Do you trust God? Abraham did.

The story of Abraham is a lengthy one, as he travels from one place to another, and even disguising his wife Sarah as his sister.

Abraham--who starts out as Abram (and his wife Sarai) and then God changes their name later on--starts out in Chapter 12 and ends in the middle of 25. From the very beginning, Abraham didn't question what the Lord told him.  He trusted Him.  Even when the Lord kept telling him that he'll have as many descendants as there is sand on the beach or stars in the sky.

What if God told you to pack up all of your belongings and go to some faraway land you've never been before?

Even though we wan to say yes, we end up saying something like, "Um, sorry, but . . . no."

Several times, the Lord tells Abraham that he'll have so many descendants, it would be as easy to count as the specks of dust on the earth.  But there was a problem.  Sarah couldn't bear any children.  Abraham even presented this to the Lord, who then said He will give them a son.  Abraham trusted Him.

In Chapter 18, God appeared before Abraham and told him that Sarah will bear a son in nine months.  Even though they were both very old, Sarah laughed and wouldn't believe it.  Abraham did.  And in Chapter 21, Isaac (their son) is born.

Psalms 1 - a lesson in finding wisdom and advice in others

For this week, I decided to take a slight detour and explore a chapter in the Book of Psalms.  Psalms 1, to be exact.  I'll be doing this on occasion, taking this detour from our regular explorations, as the Holy Bible is so full of wisdom that it would've literally taken me a few years to get to it at the pace I'm currently writing.

I've always loved Psalms 1.

It starts by saying: "Happy are those who reject the advice of evil men, who do not follow the example of sinners or join those who have no use for God."

Then it goes on by saying that by following God is like being a tree that grows next to a river.  It never dries up and bears fruit at the right time.

Meaning, if you follow God's Plan, you'll become prosperous.  You'll be giving abundance from Him.

This could be taken a step further by saying to stay away from negative people, for they'll do nothing but bog you down and keep you from succeeding.

Babbling on . . . in Babylon

Genesis 11 starts with the people of the world who decided to build a city in Babylonia with a tower that reached up to the heavens.

These people only spoke one language, and when the Lord God saw that they were beginning to worship this tower instead of Him, he scattered them throughout the world and mixed up their language so they wouldn't be able to understand each other.

The people babbled on . . .

Hence we get the word "babble."

The city was then called Babylon.

Call me Nimrod - it's really not such a bad name

Once again, the Bible tells a very thin story about a great leader who should be as well known as Caesar or Abraham Lincoln.

His name is Nimrod.

Nowadays, when you call someone a nimrod, it's meant as slander--the equivalent of calling them an idiot or a bodacious moron.

Nimrod was Noah's great-great-grandson.

Genesis 10:8 reads: "Cush had a son named Nimrod, who became the world's first great conqueror."

The verses through 12 briefly describe the kingdom he conquered, but it's sketchy at best.  No more is written about him--so far, anyway.

So, the next time someone calls you a nimrod, smile and say, "Thanks, I knew I was great."