We skipped over some chapters since yesterday. They tell of the first murder, Noah and the Ark and all the people banding together to build the tower of Babel. Each is another incident of people rejecting God and God intervening to limit or reverse the impact of evil.
Today鈥檚 chapter is a major turning point. God chooses a particular person, named Abram, with whom he wants to have a special relationship. That relationship will also extend to his descendants, the Nation of Israel. God says he will bless Abram and his descendents with greatness so they can be a blessing to others. That鈥檚 a pretty big promise considering Abram is seventy-five and Sarai, his wife, is sixty-five, and they have no children. This chapter makes it clear that Abram is not chosen because he is a tremendously virtuous person. He actually has some pretty major faults. He is not only a liar, Joshua 24:2 implies Abram wasn鈥檛 even worshiping God before God talked to him. Essentially, the rest of the Bible will show how God blesses Abram, his descendents and all of humanity through these people. The people we today call Jews are Abram鈥檚 descendents. The Bible you are reading was written almost entirely by Jews; even Jesus was a Jew. God took someone who didn鈥檛 deserve to be blessed and blessed him so people like you and me, who also don鈥檛 deserve to be blessed, could be blessed too!
Could God鈥檚 blessing of me be one of the ways God blesses others? Maybe I limit God鈥檚 blessings of others by not always listening to what he asks me to do.