"A People, a Place, a Promise (Genesis 23)” | 4/11/2021
Genesis 23 | 4/11/21 | Will DuVal
This morning, in keeping with all the post-Easter, spring “newness”, we’re diving into a new SERMON series; diving BACK in, I should say; if you were here back in August, you’ll remember that we pushed “Pause”, about halfway through our study of the book of GENESIS. But now I want to RETURN to Genesis, and God willing, spend the next several months walking through the second half of the book together with you.
And my goal for this morning is two-fold: first, I’m gonna attempt to SUMMARIZE the first 22 chapters we covered last spring and summer in under 10 min. So that secondly, I can save plenty of time to preach through our text for this morning, ch.23. If you have Bible, and I hope you do - if you DON’T, we’d love to give you one at the Info Bar - but your Bible might title Genesis ch.23 something like “Sarah’s Death and Burial”. I joked with Thad back in the spring, that “This is gonna be perfect; we can wrap up the first half of the Genesis series in chapter 22 with Abraham’s near-sacrifice of Isaac, this great, climactic moment, and then I can pick up some time in 2021 in ch.24, and no one will even remember or NOTICE that I just conveniently skipped right over ch.23, because who wants to spend a whole Sunday expositing Abraham’s argument with a bunch of Hittites over a burial plot for his dead wife? On the Sunday after EASTER, nonetheless!? But the more I studied it this week, the more I realized: “I think there’s more going ON here in ch.23 than first meets the eye. “ALL Scripture is God-breathed and USEFUL for teaching”. So that’s what we’re gonna do this morning.
But FIRST, a quick RECAP:
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” And we extrapolated 20 qualities of God from Genesis 1 alone: God is Preeminent, Creator, Powerful, Dynamic, Involved, Communicative, Good, Orderly, Purposeful, Life-Giving, Caring, Creative, Trinitarian, Relational, Empowering, Manifold, Hierarchical, Provider, Thorough, and altogether EXEMPLARY.
And then Easter LAST year I preached probably the only Easter sermon EVER from the book of Genesis, chs.2 & 3 - “The Call, the Curse, & the Cure” - in Genesis 2 (and the end of ch.1) God creates US, humanity, in his image, to reflect His glory, and He CALLS us to produce, promote, and preserve life, because God is a GOOD God; a God of LIFE. But we - all of humanity was implicated in Adam & Eve’s sin - we chose disobedience, and DEATH. The curse of sin IS death. Spiritual death, most significantly; a severing of our relationship with God himself: “On the day you eat the fruit, you shall surely DIE”. But sin severed our interpersonal relationships with one another as well - Adam and Eve point fingers at each other; Sin curses our relationship with creation too; even the GROUND is gonna bring forth thorns and thistles now. And one day, we will all die physically and return TO that ground.
But God doesn’t give up on us. And in the midst of all the CURSES, we catch a glimpse of His coming CURE for our sin problem, in Genesis 3:15, the protoeuangelion, literally, the “first gospel”, God’s prophetic promise to send an offspring to and through Eve, who would one day CRUSH the head of the serpent, and triumph over sin and death itself.
But ch.4 was a rude reality check that Eve’s immediate offspring would NOT fulfill that promise, as the world’s first murderer, Cain, kills his brother Abel. And the sin problem only continues to spiral downward for 7 generations, culminating in the lustful, polygamist, chauvinist, murderous, vengeful, ambitious LAMECH.
But... God doesn’t give up on us. He graciously provides Eve with ANOTHER offspring, a new LINE, the line of SETH. And ANOTHER 8 generations later we get the most promising prospect YET to be God’s long-awaited serpent-crusher, a “righteous and blameless” man named NOAH. Righteous enough to be chosen for God’s REBOOT of humanity - Noah’s immediate family were the lone survivors of the FLOOD, God’s judgment against the pandemic of human sin - Noah was righteous, but not SIN-less. And less than a chapter after stepping off the boat, Noah gets booked for drunkenness and indecent exposure. Which his son Ham turns into a public spectacle, for which his son Canaan gets CURSED - the Canaanites would become a thorn in the side of the Israelites for centuries to come - and sin once again continues its spread down to the infamous Nimrod, who oversees the most organized attempt at rebellion against God, the construction of the Tower of Babel, in ch.11.
But... God doesn’t give up on us. He confuses their language and scatters the peoples, but then OUT OF all the nations, in ch.12, major turning point, God chooses a man named Abram. And God makes him a covenant, a promise. THREE promises, actually: “I will show you a land... I will make of you a great nation... and I will bless you.”
Land, Family, Blessing.
A Place, a People, and a Promise.
These 3 promises point us to 3 of the deepest needs in every human heart: first, a place to call HOME, a sense of security and BELONGING; second, a people, a family, a supportive community, the need for relationship; and third, the promise of blessing is REALLY the promise of a FUTURE; a sense of meaning and purpose and direction for one’s life. God is SUCH a gracious Father to us.
But for the next 10 chapters, chs.13-22, we read one story after the next of Abraham and Sarah DOUBTING God’s covenant promises, literally laughing in His face (that’s why their son Isaac’s name means “laughter”), faithlessly lying to the Egyptians in ch.12… AND Abimelech in ch.20… conspiring in ch.16 to circumvent God’s plan by giving Sarah’s servant HAGAR to Abraham as a second wife; Abraham’s faithlessness was outdone only by his nephew Lot’s, who was implicated not only in the War of the 9 Kings… AND the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah… but ALSO in the drunken incestuous affair that results in the birth of the Ammonite and Moabite tribes - two MORE of Israel’s fiercest enemies.
But time after time, story after story, God doesn’t give up on us. He proves that when we are faith-less, he remains faith-FULL. And when it counts the most, on top of Mount Moriah in ch.22, with a knife in his hand and his only son on the altar, Abraham finally passes the test of faith. And he offers us the most vivid, prophetic foreshadowing of God’s ultimate plan to rescue humanity from the curse of sin, some 2,100 years later, on that same mountain, Golgotha, by sacrificing HIS only Son, Jesus, for the sin of the world.
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So MOST of chs.13-22 deal God’s promise of a PEOPLE. God had promised Abraham descendants as “numerous as the stars”, but he remained childless until age 85, when he took matters into his own hands with Hagar and had ISHMAEL. Then Abraham had to wait ANOTHER 15 years before God gave him ISAAC, only to call Abraham to SACRIFICE him. But after God intervenes to save Isaac, we finally breathe a sigh of relief, that God’s promise of a people is starting to come to fruition. And that’s confirmed at the END of ch.22 by the news Abraham receives in vv20-24, that his extended family is growing as well, including one “REBEKAH” in v23 who will next week in ch.24 marry Isaac, and continue Abraham’s lineage.
So with his family now a bit more secure, the story draws our attention in ch.23 to God’s promise of a PLACE, for Abraham’s descendants. The Promised Land. Canaan. How will THAT promise be secured? After all, Hebrews 11:9 in the NT explains that “By faith [Abraham] went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents”; so Abraham never built a true HOME in Canaan. But God is going to work here in ch.23 to give him at least a foothold in the Promised Land. And while only God can pull that off, Abraham has a big role to play in it as well. Let’s bring this down and make it personal and practical this morning: have you ever wondered, “What is God’s WILL for my life? God: what do you want for me… what do you want FROM me? And how do I know if I’m living in the center of God’s will?” Well, Abraham demonstrates for us here 8 “Don’ts”, 8 ways to avoid stepping OUTSIDE of God’s will for your life; or as I’ve subtitled this sermon “8 Principles for Pursuing God’s Promise” in your life.
So without further ado, Would you stand… Genesis ch.23, vv1-20:
“Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2 And Sarah died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. 3 And Abraham rose up from before his dead and said to the Hittites,[a] 4 “I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” 5 The Hittites answered Abraham, 6 “Hear us, my lord; you are a prince of God[b] among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead.” 7 Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land. 8 And he said to them, “If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and entreat for me Ephron the son of Zohar, 9 that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as property for a burying place.”
10 Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who went in at the gate of his city, 11 “No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the sight of the sons of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead.” 12 Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land. 13 And he said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, “But if you will, hear me: I give the price of the field. Accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there.” 14 Ephron answered Abraham, 15 “My lord, listen to me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels[c] of silver, what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.” 16 Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.
17 So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, was made over 18 to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites, before all who went in at the gate of his city. 19 After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 20 The field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites.” This is the word of the Lord… Let’s pray
1) Don’t get too attached (to the things of this world, and that includes people). (vv1-2)
We read in vv1-2: “Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2 And Sarah died”. Abraham’s SOUL-mate! His bride of over 100 years! Can you imagine losing your spouse of 110 or 12 years? Your only life-long companion, throughout the past 62 years of your sojourning as a stranger in Canaan? If anyone deserved a pass to pack it in and head back home to Ur of the Chaldeans from whence he came, and where the rest of his now-growing family resided - “God, it’s been a good run. You worked in spite of my sin to bless me with earthly riches, and now a son, Isaac, but as fun as it is living out of suitcase, in tents, just wandering the Middle East, waiting for your next move, I think I’m gonna head back to UR, cash in my 401k, and put my feet up on the couch for the last few decades years of my life; God, I’m 137 years old!” Abraham reminds me of that guy from the movie UP. You’ve seen that? (SUCH a good movie!) He had this big dream all his life of a living in a home on top of Paradise Falls with his wife Ellie, but when she dies, it totally takes the wind out of his sails. Until he gets inspired for one last BIG adventure in honor of his deceased wife; that’s Abraham here. He could have let Sarah’s death take all the wind out of his sails, pack it in; but INSTEAD, he decides to trust God for one last big adventure: the acquisition of the first little corner of the Promised Land.
If Abraham has learned ANYTHING these past 62 years following God now, it’s that you can’t get too ATTACHED to things. Not to a place - God had called Abram to LEAVE his homeland back in ch.12, everything he had ever known. Not to people - Abram left his entire extended family, later his nephew Lot, then he’s forced to exile his wife Hagar and child Ishmael, he nearly loses his son Isaac, and now he DOES lose his wife Sarah. Where does Abraham find the strength to persevere on? The rest of Hebrews 11 explains: “By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents… For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” Abraham’s great hope in life wasn’t to finally settle down in Canaan; his hope in life WASN’T for this life at all. V16: He “desired a better country, that is, a heavenly one.” Abraham kept his eyes fixed on HEAVEN. So when he had to leave Ur and wander, he didn’t worry. He kept his eyes fixed on THE LORD. So when he lost his parents, his siblings, his nephew, his sons, his wives, he could say “GOD is enough for me”. Abraham understood that we are ALL just passing through this place. As James 4:14 asks, “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”
Friends: You’ve only got ONE life - in the light of eternity, one hopelessly SHORT life to live - you better make it count. And how do you make it count? You live it in light of eternity to COME. That was the message of Easter last Sunday; sure, if this life is all there is, eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we all die. “If in Christ we Christians have hope[b] in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” The Bible says: we’re ALL gonna be raised like Him, either to eternal Paradise with God our Father, or eternal AGONY apart from Him. The ONLY way to life all 75 or 175 years of your life on THIS earth then, is not to get too attached here, too comfortable here - this world is NOT our home - but like Abraham, desire a BETTER country… like JESUS, “lay up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
How about YOU? Where is YOUR heart this morning? With a place, with people? They say “home is where the heart is”. MY home is NOT at 14180 Cross Trails Drive, Chesterfield, Missouri. That’s not where MY heart is. But boy, the people part is more convicting for me. We leave for the Gospel Coalition conference in Indianapolis tomorrow for 3 days, and I HATE being away from my family. Polly’s actually coming with me this year, but even just leaving my kids for 3 days; I’ve just been randomly crying and hugging them all weekend long; I am ATTACHED to my kids. My heart is where they are.
But we’ve got to remember that we’re all just passing through. The Bible says, “This world is passing away, and everything with it”; friends: you better invest in a BETTER country, a more permanent home.
AND YET, the counter-balance to that, #2 - in your years of sojourning here as a “stranger and exile” on this earth... Don’t miss out on relationships.
In v2, we hear Abraham’s reaction to Sarah’s death: he “mourned and wept”.
This is the first mention of TEARS in the Bible. But certainly not the last - there will be a WHOLE lot more tears for the next 1,164 chapters of the Bible, until Revelation ch.21, when Jesus finally returns a SECOND time, to wipe away every tear from our eyes, “and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things will have passed away.””
But until THAT glorious day, part of what it MEANS to be a stranger and exile here on earth is to BE CONNECTED in deep, meaningful ways to others. Ways that, yes: open you up to the possibility of being DEEPLY hurt by their LOSS. It’s not just a possibility, point #1 admits it is an inevitability. Live long enough, and you WILL lose everyone you have ever loved in this life. That’s scary, for a lot of us. They say, “Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” And SOME of us want to reply, “Maybe you haven’t LOST someone as close to you as I have!” Cuz it HURTS. It’s scary.
I remember commenting to Polly, probably around 6 years ago when we were moving here to St. Louis - and like Abraham, I had bounced all around - grew up in west TN, college in South Carolina, seminary in Nashville, worked in northern Indiana, but more significantly, I battled an attachment disorder in response to my parent’s divorce - but I remember realizing at the age of 30 that I could count on ONE hand the people in my life who if they died, I would cry at their funeral. Because I didn’t let myself get close enough to people to be HURT by them. I kept everyone at a distance.
Maybe that’s you this morning. I praise God that He revealed that heart issue to me. And that today I can honestly say “I love you all - so so many of you; I would cry at your funeral.” That’s natural. That’s BIBLICAL. Jesus WEPT, everyone’s favorite, shortest memory verse in the Bible. It is UN-godly to stuff your emotions, and be emotionally unavailable to your wife, your kids, your friends; that doesn’t make you more of a man; it makes you an emotional CHILD. It makes you immature. And God wants better for you. It really IS better to have loved and lost. Do NOT miss out.
#3 - Don’t get sidetracked from God’s plan. (vv3-4; “Abraham rose up and said to the Hittites…”)
Yes, Abraham was sad. Heart-broken even. But what do we see him do in vv3 & 4? “Abraham rose up from before his dead and said to the Hittites,[a] 4 “I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place”
There’s a phrase counselors sometimes use with people struggling with depression or anxiety: “Do the opposite”. You feel like staying in bed all day; do the opposite: force yourself to get up. You suffer from agoraphobia, you want to run away from that crowded place; do the opposite: immersion therapy.
I’m sure Abraham FEELS like just wallowing in his grief forever. Ancient Israelite custom called for 30 days of mourning!
And remember, custom would have ALSO been for Abraham to return “home” to Ur, to bury Sarah there. His burying her here in Canaan is a sign of faith in God’s promise to one day give his descendants ALL this land, even though Abraham himself would never live to see that day.
And in spite of his sorrow… and at the risk of burying his wife in a totally foreign land - I remember when my mom sold the house I grew up in and she moved; one of the hardest things for her was leaving HER mom’s remains, she had buried her mother’s ashes in our backyard, and planted a tree there in her honor; thought she’d live in that house forever. Now she’s got to TRESPASS to visit her mother’s gravesite. Similarly, here’s Abraham, a foreigner in Canaan, but he never stops hearing God’s promises ringing in his ears…
““To your offspring I will give this land.”” Gen 12:7,
“all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever.” Gen 13:15
“To your offspring I give[a] this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,” Gen 15:18
“I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession” Gen 17:8.
So too for us today, we cannot let our FEELINGS or what is CUSTOMARY - emotions or etiquette - sidetrack us from what GOD has called us to. God may call you to things that are scary. Uncomfortable. He may call you to things that don’t make SENSE, from the world’s perspective. Will you trust HIM?
#4 - Don’t be a separatist. (vv5-6).
We read on, vv5-6: “The Hittites answered Abraham, 6 “Hear us, my lord; you are a prince of God[b] among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead.”
Here’s the point: God uses Abraham’s existing relationships with the Hittites, the surrounding peoples, his reputation, to help accomplish this land deal. If Abraham had been walking around with his NOSE in the air for the past 62 years, looking DOWN on these PAGAN inhabitants of Canaan, do you think they would have called him their “lord”, “a prince of GOD”!?
The quick takeaway for us is that God calls us to be “in the world but not of the world”, but so many Christians today have turned that into “NOT in the world OR of the world”. And I’m not saying it’s WRONG to homeschool your kids, or to intentionally try and support Christian businesses whenever you can, but I AM saying if you don’t know your next door neighbors, that’s a problem. If you’re hunkered down in your little Christian bunker with your exclusively Christian friends, listening to your Christian podcasts, in between the half dozen Christian ministries you attend, MY question is, when do you have time to meet a NON-Christian? How are you ever gonna share the gospel with ANYONE who isn’t already a believer, if you only eat at Chick-fil-A; we KNOW they’re all SAVED, eating the Lord’s chicken. Are we willing to eat across the street at Raisin’ CANES too. That den of sin, named after the first murderer in history. Different spelling, bad joke.
But you get the point: Jesus has called us to be light and salt. Why put another lamp in an already well-lit room? I’m not saying forget about church; I’m saying come here and recharge your batteries, so you can go out Monday - Saturday and push back DARKNESS! Salt was used in antiquity to stem the decay of meat. But you’ve got to rub it INTO the meat. Who are YOU rubbing shoulders with? And are you rubbing off more on THEM, or they on YOU? Don’t be a separatist. Be IN the world, but not OF it.
#5 - Don’t be wishy-washy. (vv7-9).
Vv7-9: Abraham “said to them, “If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and entreat for me Ephron the son of Zohar, 9 that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as property for a burying place.”
Abraham’s request is direct. He doesn’t beat around the bush or drag his feet.
God LOVES decisiveness. Resoluteness. He promises in Jeremiah 29:13, in Deuteronomy 4:29, and elsewhere: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” He commands us, the GREATEST commandment in all of Scripture: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Conversely, God HATES wishy-washiness. What did he tell the church in Laodicea, in Revelation ch.3? “Because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” Are you hot or cold? In or out? Get off the fence. God HATES fences. There’s no such thing as “dip-a-toe-in-the-water Christianity”; that’s why Jesus called his disciples in the Gospel accounts to sell EVERYTHING and follow him, leave EVERYONE and follow him; there’s no place for hemming and hawing. No testing the water; you jump in the deep end, both feet first, or stay out the pool.
So I ask YOU this morning: are YOU wishy-washy? Are you on the fence? Just dipping a toe in? Or have you resolved to give your whole heart, mind, soul and strength to your Maker and Sustainer, and trust Him, wherever He leads you? He is worth it ALL - your unwavering pursuit of His good promises.
#6 - In the same vein, Don’t compromise God’s plans. (vv10-13)
vv10-13 : “Now Ephron… answered Abraham… “No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it… Bury your dead.” Then Abraham said to Ephron… “But if you will, hear me: I give the price of the field. Accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there.””
Abraham wants to BUY just the CAVE; Ephron offers to GIVE him the LAND surrounding it. What’s going on here?
John MacArthur explains in his Study Bible (47): “This suggests not that Ephron felt generous, but that he was constrained by Hittite feudal polity, which tied ownership of land with service to the ruler. Passing the land to Abraham would pass also feudal responsibilities to Abraham, making him liable for all taxes and duties. This Ephron was apparently anxious to do, thus the offer to give the land.” Gordon Wenham adds (128): “Abraham can use his grave but [Ephron] implies that he does not intend to sell the land in perpetuity. Land merely ‘given’ is land on loan. A gift, as opposed to a sale, places the recipient under obligation to the donor.”
If you’re paying to rent an apartment, the landlord has certain obligations to YOU, come fix things when they break, in the time of Covid, legally, he can’t even kick you OUT! He OWES you, because you PAID him. But if you’re in between apartments and your buddy’s doing you a solid and letting you crash with him for a bit, who owes whom THEN? Even if you OFFER to throw him a little rent money, he may decline; why? So he doesn’t have to FEEL bad when you leave dirty dishes around and turn the TV volume up way too loud late at night and leave hair all over his bar of soap in the shower and eventually he’s had enough and he EVICTS you. You can’t say: “Wait a minute, but we had a DEAL; NO deal - just a favor, now revoked, I love you, bro, but you gotta go.”
At first glance, it may seem like Ephron is being NICE. It may seem like Abraham is being FOOLISH, refusing his generosity. Why PAY for a field you can have for FREE? Abraham isn’t being foolish, he’s being faithful. Even though he will personally never live to see God’s promise of ALL the land come to fruition, he knows God has not called him to LEASE space in the Promised Land, but to OWN it!
What about you? It can be tempting to compromise on God’s plan for our lives, to settle for less than all he has called us to. “I know God WANTS me to be married to a believer, but I’m getting old, and this guy I’m dating is really nice; that’s close enough.” Or “I’m really convinced God is calling me to some job, but the opportunities aren’t panning out yet and I’m getting nervous and in the meantime, this OTHER job is at least a steady paycheck, and I don’t have to stay forever…” but then you settle in and never move on.
Don’t compromise, and settle for less than all that God has called you to.
#7 - Don’t miss people, or opportunities. (vv14-16)
I’m running out of time, but look at vv14-16 really quick: “Ephron answered Abraham, “My lord, listen to me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels[c] of silver, what is that between you and me? Just Bury your dead!” Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named.” It would have been easy for Abraham to be so caught up in the argument by this point, this is the third back and forth, that he’s not even LISTENING to Ephron any more. You ever get so caught up in an argument, so heels dug in, that you forget what you were even arguing about? Every DAY for some of us, married couples… God help you. If you DO that, you will miss both the PERSON in front of you, and any potential opportunity God might give you to actually RESOLVE the conflict. I had a marriage counselor ask me once: “Will, what do you care about more, your WIFE, or being RIGHT?” I said, “Why do I have to PICK,” and launched into a debate with HIM too!
Not Abraham. He listened to Ephron, and because he did, when Ephron got so flustered that he let slip how much he thought the field was worth, Abraham just calmly pulled out his wallet, measured out the silver, and took the deed to the property from Ephron’s hand. They say when God shuts a door, he opens a window. But you won’t REALIZE it if you’re too busy trying to beat down the door. We need to LISTEN for the Lord’s leading, and then have the courage to actually take those opportunities, walk through those open windows, as he reveals them.
Lastly, #8 - Don’t underestimate God’s plans. (vv17-20)
Vv17-20: “The field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites.” And you notice how many times Moses emphasizes - it was handed over in front of ALL the Hittites. So that NO ONE, for generations to come, can question Abraham’s rightful ownership.
This is the only little plot of land Abraham EVER owned in the Promised Land. And how’d he GET it?
-He wasn’t powerful enough to take it by force.
-Abraham was RICH, but not wealthy enough to buy all of CANAAN!
Abraham was able to accomplish the plans and promises God had laid on his heart because he had a good reputation, he didn’t get sidetracked, he was bold, faithful and uncompromising, he paid attention to God and to people along the way, and most importantly, he knew that NOTHING was impossible with God. In the same way that Hebrews 11 says Abraham trusted God would even bring Isaac back from the dead if that’s what He had to do to fulfill His promise of a people, here, Abraham trusted that God could even use SARAH’s death, the saddest event in his 137 year old not so easy LIFE, to accomplish his good plans for Abraham’s future, in securing a place in the land.
So let me ask you in closing: How have you seen God take what the enemy meant for evil and turn it for good in YOUR life? This story gives us a glimpse of the gospel, friends - when God took the greatest evil in the history of the world, His perfect Son’s death on the cross, and He redeemed it and used it to accomplish the greatest good of all time - the salvation of all who would trust in Jesus by faith. If God can do that, if He HAS done that, already, in your life, in your testimony of faith, you can trust that NOTHING is too difficult for Him! Amen?