Whose name am I trying to make known?

As I have been reading through the book of Genesis, I have been thinking about and contrasting two stories. One is found in Genesis 11 and the other in Genesis 12. In Genesis 11, the people decide to make a name for themselves by uniting and building this tower instead of following God’s plan for their lives. They thought they could go about this making name for themselves thing on their own leaving God out of the picture. God foils the plan thus the tower of Babel story. Now Genesis 12 begins with God’s call of Abram. God instructs Abram to leave his family and follow God to the land God has for him. God then promises that He will bless Abram and make Abram’s name great. He also promises that all peoples of the earth will be blessed through Abram. What does Abram do? He obeys. He leaves his home and follows God’s leading.

Why is Abram’s name great? In Hebrews, it tells it was Abram’s faith- his faith in leaving his home to follow, his faith that God would give him a son, and lastly his faith that God would keep his promises even if it didn’t all happen in his lifetime. In Galatians, it tells us that Abram “believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.” But most of all God had a plan. He would bless Abram so Abram and his descendants could bless all peoples of the earth.

So often I am too much like the people of Babel. I am tooting my own horn and building my own towers. But I want so much to be like Abram. I want to have great faith. I want to believe God’s promises. I want to be a blessing to all peoples of the world.

Dear God of Abram who is also my God, I thank you that your name is great and above all other names. Forgive me for the times I try to make my name great. Forgive me for doing things my way instead of your way. God may I have faith in your promises and believe that you will do what you say you are going to do. Thank you for blessing me in so many ways and even though I don’t deserve it. May I be a blessing to those you send my way. In Jesus name, Amen