Not Engrossed in this World - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Genesis 23:17-20,

"Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife [Sarah] and spoke to the Hittites. He said, 'I am a foreigner and stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead.'"

Here were my thoughts on this passage in January, 2020:

We are told Sarah died at 127 years old. Abraham was 9 or 10 years older than Sarah, so he was about 137 years old when Sarah passed. In Genesis 25:7-11 we learn Abraham died at 175 years of age, so Abraham lived about another 38 years after the passing of Sarah. In that same passage we find out that Isaac and Ishmael buried Abraham in the same cave he had buried Sarah in.

As Abraham negotiated to purchase this burial site he made the observation to the Hittites that he lived among them as "a foreigner and stranger among you." It appears to me that following God's call to Abraham to leave his home and go to the land God was promising him, he lived as a foreigner and stranger everywhere he went. Although God gave all of Canaan to Abraham, the only land that I recall he owned was this burial cave and the field it was in.

The writer of Hebrews made this observation, "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God." Hebrews 11:8-10.

The writer of Hebrews goes on to say, "All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them." Verses 13-16.

I am reminded that Abraham is held up as an example for us to follow as someone who was not so engrossed in the things of this life because he was distracted by his hope of "a better country—a heavenly one".

Paul also provides us some direction on what our view of this life should be in this regard, "What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away." 1 Corinthians 7:29-31.

Clinging to this life and all it offers is not the perspective we should have as believers.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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