Focus: Divine Discovery

Text: Gen.12:1

"Now the LORD had SAID unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee."

YHVH had SAID to Abram… In the calling of Abraham God did more than say something. Up until he was called by God, Abraham was an idol-worshipper (Josh.24:2). He did not know the true God. So it would take more than just hearing a voice to discover the true God. That being the case, how then did God call Abraham? Stephen has a hint for us in Act.7:2, where he says, "The GOD of GLORY APPEARED unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran" (Act.7:2). Right there is our clue. God did more than speak to Abraham; God revealed himself to him as well.

Abraham saw the God of glory and heard his mighty voice. That is visibility and audibility. He caught a revelation of who God is, and as a result, he abandoned the worship of idols or the serving of other gods. By encountering the God of glory he was willing to step out of his comfort zone and move beyond the familiar, even at a great cost. He knew God by firsthand experience. He was captivated and captured by a vision of the invisible and the glory of the transcendent God. And by that awesome revelation God blessed and made him a blessing. He became a radically changed man and the father of all who believe in the Messiah.

Conversing with Joseph, Jacob said, "God Almighty APPEARED unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and BLESSED me" (Gen.48:3). This is a powerful testimony from the lips of Jacob. Divine appearance is always followed by divine blessing. God blesses as he appears. And God appears to us in different forms. Mark says, "After that he appeared in ANOTHER FORM unto two of them…" (Mk.16:12).

The Lord wants to appear to you. He says in Jh.14:21, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will MANIFEST MYSELF TO HIM."

Apart from appearing TO us, God wants to reveal Christ IN us (Gal.1:16). The psalmist longed to behold the beauty of the Lord, and he tells us of the benefit or effect of seeing God: "They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed" (Ps.27:4; 34:5).

I pray for you to experience Christ afresh and to constantly behold his beauty and glory. The bottom line of genuine Christianity is about discovering Christ for yourself and reflecting him to the world around you. Amen.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter