I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look upon God.
Exodus 3:6
God of the Wide Embrace
I'm glad God doesn't demand one certain personality type
then bar all others. His kingdom is wide even though the gate is narrow. The
people He calls come in every stripe, background and character. But, nowhere is
God's wide love more clearly shown than in the statement, "I am the God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." These three men--though closely related by blood and
each accepted by faith--could not have been more different in thinking,
character and approach to life.
Abraham---father of the faithful. The steadfast faithfulness
of Abraham has been an example to believers for four thousand years. His faith
in God persevered when every fact of life seemed to shout that God had lied to
him. Abraham left his home to follow the Divine call even when God did not
explain where he would be going. And, when God said he would have a son, he trusted that promise
year after year with no heir in sight. Once the son of faith was born, Abraham
willingly offered him up to God trusting that the God of heaven could even raise
the dead. Although he sometimes stumbled and-like every other human-he had to
grow in faith, Abraham is held up in both New and Old Testaments as the epitome
of faith in action.
Isaac---timid and compliant. This man was totally different
than his father. You can read every word about him in the Bible and find no
great trials of faith; no struggling with God. Isaac never ventured out of the
Promised Land. He was not even allowed to go beyond the borders to secure a
bride for himself. He had no great adventures. Fought no wars. Only one chapter
in the Old Testament is dedicated to telling his life. Yet, when God was
choosing a way to identify Himself, He included that He was the God of Isaac.
Jacob---a cheat and liar. The grandson of faithful Abraham was
so totally unlike his forefather as to be unrecognizable. He began life grasping
at the chance to become number one and spent the rest of his days struggling
with both God and man. He was a manipulator and a cheat who left the land of
his father's for more than twenty years. He was a polygamist with a penchant
for self-pity and, though he grew in faith and matured, even toward the last of
his life we find him lying to his brother. [1] Yet, God didn't give up on Jacob.
When Jacob struggled against God, God struggled harder for the man and in the
end brought Jacob to Himself.
The morning God met Moses at the burning bush, He introduced
Himself-not as the Creator or Almighty or Being of Light-but as the God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The designation not only identified Him as eternal,
but also Someone with an embrace so wide it reached the faithful, the straying
and all in between.
[1] Genesis 33:12-17
