A Prayer for Remembering and Celebrating a Really Good Story

Source: Scotty Smith | The Gospel Coalition

     Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 12:1-3

Gracious and sovereign Father, we’re so thankful there’s a throne in heaven with Someone sitting on it. There’s no chaos around you. We’re so grateful you don’t scratch your head each morning wondering what to try next. There’s no consternation in you. We’re so glad you are author and narrator, director and hero, the beginning and end of an unfolding story of redemption-a narrative of reconciliation and restoration.  Your ways are perfect and your timing is Swiss. There’s no second-guessing by you. You major in actualities, not probabilities… Hallelujah!

Though many other stories compete for our hearts, days, energy, and resources-including those we would write for ourselves, we remember yours at the start of our day.  These few verses from Genesis are like a great preview of coming attractions; a storyboard of wonder; the plotline of hope. We praise you for making incredible promises to an unsuspecting pagan, Abram-promises you alone can keep. Indeed, from beginning to end your story is a tale of sovereign grace and irrepressible generosity.

Father, thank you for the promise of the land. How could Abram have possibly imagined what was ahead as he packed his bags for the unknown? It began in the Garden of Eden, continued in the land of Israel, and will culminate in the new heaven and new earth. Place and space matter to you. You’ve promised to redeem and restore your entire fallen world, not just one part of it-not just souls, but the cosmos as well. We praise you for your inviolate plans and great strength.

Thank you for the promise of the seed. From this one unsuspecting man Abram, you created a great nation as the birthing canal of the Messiah-the Lord Jesus. You promised the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15), and you didn’t lie. Jesus came into the world to destroy the work of the devil, and he has triumphed-the Lamb of God has routed the lord of darkness. Hallelujah! His cross and resurrection guarantee that, just like Abraham, we are counted righteous in your sight by faith (Gen. 15:6; Romans 4). An even louder Hallelujah, we shout! We praise you for the everlasting gospel of your saving grace.

Thank you for the promise of the blessing. Father, it’s always been your plan to redeem a family from every family on the earth. It was never just about Israel, just like it’s never just about me. Indeed, you made Abram (Abraham) the father of many nations. All of history is bound up with your commitment to redeem your people “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” (Rev. 7:9). We praise you for your magnanimous heart and measureless generosity.

Father, thank you for making us characters in and carriers of your great story of redemption. We choose not to fritter our lives away on little soap operas of private drama and self-fulfillment. How boring, how empty. So let us live and so let us love as to make much of Jesus. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ powerful and praiseworthy name.