Do you sometimes wonder "God, why is this happening?" Maybe you wish you looked differently. Maybe there are things you want to do but you are not able. Do circumstances sometimes seem more difficult for you than for others? Is it hard for you to accept your "Lot" in life?
Our father Abraham accepted his, so let's see if we can discover a key that will help us be thankful for who we are and what we have.
Genesis 14:18-24
Abraham is on his way home after defeating the King of Sodom and rescuing his nephew Lot. Melchizedek, a priest of El Elyon, comes out to greet him with bread and wine and blesses Abraham saying:
"Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand" (14:19-20)
El Elyon or God Most High is described as "Creator of heaven and earth". The Hebrew word creator is not the usual word used for create as in "In the beginning God created..." Here the word is "konne" which means measured exactly according to the pattern determined. It comes from the word for a "reed or a rod" which was used as a stick of standard length for measuring things. In Greek it is "kanne" from which we get the word "canon" in English; the standard by which we measure scriptures.
So, El Elyon, Creator of heaven and earth, means that God has designed all of creation according to a particular pattern.
King David uses the Hebrew word "konne" in Psalm 139:13. "For you created my inmost being." David understands that God designed his personality, the deepest part of his being. The Almighty has "measured" who he is as an individual. Certain characteristics about our person, areas of gifting and abilities, these are all part of God's sovereign design for our lives.
This doesn't mean that we can say, "Hey, you made me this way, now you fix me!" It means that we can learn to appreciate the unique characteristics about ourselves, and others, that El Elyon has sovereignly woven into our personalities. The Psalm goes on to say that even our physical bodies are part of a unique design that our heavenly Father uniquely fashioned. (Read all of Psalm 139, its one of my favorites)
A further implication of this word "konne" is that El Elyon has ownership over all things. This is the modern Hebrew word for "to buy" (note: used less and less today at current rates of inflation!). That's why Abraham responds to Melchizedek by "giving him a tenth (tithe) of everything" (14:20). This is the biblical meaning of the tithe. It is not that God deserves ten percent of what we have, but rather it is a symbolic acknowledgment that everything belongs to God. It is an act of Abraham's faith that El Elyon, God Most High, is "konne" of everything.
So when the King of Sodom comes to Abraham and offers him to "keep the goods for yourself," Abraham replies:
"I have raised my hands to the Lord, El Elyon, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of your sandal, so that you will never be able to say, 'I made Abram rich.'" (14:22-23)
Why would Abraham refuse this man's wealth? It is certainly not that he is opposed to material blessings or prosperity. He was actually a very wealthy man. Rather, he is choosing to live in the light of the biblical principle that God is El Elyon, sovereign owner of all things. Abraham will not allow himself to become in any way obligated to any man. No man would ever get credit for making Abraham the man rich in faith and fortune that he became. No one could ever be master over him, for El Elyon alone is the Sovereign LORD.
Have we not all too often seen good men, gifted men, corrupted by the lures of material gain? Men who are no longer able to stand up for what they believe because they had been "bought" by popularity or fame? What purity, what honesty, what blessing would follow in our nation and in our society if men were willing to say as Abraham, "I have lifted my hand to El Elyon, owner of all things... that you will never be able to say, 'I made Abram rich.'" Indeed, "Better is a poor man whose walk is blameless, than a rich man whose ways are perverse" (Prov.28:6).
Now look at the promise Abraham receives because he is willing to acknowledge that El Elyon is sovereign over his life.
"The word of the Lord came to Abram, 'Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward'" (15:1).
When the Lord is our reward, a reward far greater than anything man can offer, we are free from the fears and entrapments, the treacheries and manipulations so common in our human interactions.
The scripture says, "Abram believed in the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness" (15:6). The foundation of Abraham's faith in God was his understanding that the LORD is sovereign owner and designer of all creation. On this basis Abraham experienced wonderful promises. He was to inherit the Land (15:18), he becomes the father of many nations (17:4), and he receives a new name (17:5). All culminating in some of the most moving passages of scripture where God himself comes to visit and make covenant with his Friend Abraham between the Betarim (15:17-18), and he receives the circumcision (17:1ff), a permanent mark on his body signifying "I am servant of El Elyon, Most High God."
Acknowledging that God is the Sovereign El Elyon in every aspect of life is not the same as passive fatalism which just accepts anything without question. Rather, it gives us the ability to appreciate who we are by sovereign design, and the confidence to serve faithfully in those areas where we are uniquely gifted. It is an uncompromising determination to "be obligated to no man...except to love..."(Rom.8:13). The LORD alone should be master over every aspect of our lives. Understanding these two aspects of the sovereignty of God will assure us a life of fruitfulness and blessing.
Meditate on this thought by Henri Nouwen on being grateful.
"To be grateful for the good things that happen in our lives is easy, but to be grateful for all of our lives-the good as well as the bad, the moments of joy as well as the moments of sorrow, the successes as well as the failures, the rewards as well as the rejections-that requires hard spiritual work. Still, we are only truly grateful people when we can say "thank you" to all that has brought us to the present moment. As long as we keep dividing our lives between events and people we would like to remember and those we would rather forget, we cannot claim the fullness of our beings as a gift of God to be grateful for. Let's not be afraid to look at everything that has brought us to where we are now and trust that we will soon see in it the guiding hand of a loving God."
