“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.”
So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.”
—Gen 12:1-9
When we read Bible stories, we like to read them as if the human characters are the main characters. I had a little kids’ Bible growing up with a bright red cover and cutesy pictures. It taught me that it’s good to listen to God, like Noah did when he built that boat; it’s good to be really brave like David when he killed the giant Goliath; it’s good to be patient like Abraham, and wait for God. Also I think this kids’ Bible almost kind of implied that Jesus didn’t die on the cross, which is, you know… heresy, but that’s a story for another time.
But anyway it’s easy to go from I should be like this character to I should be like this character because God blessed him or her, and I want God to bless me. So when we just focus on what these Bible characters did right and and what they did wrong, we might start thinking things like:
If only I could be really obedient like Noah, life will be good.
If only I could be really brave like David, life will be good.
If only I could be really patient like Abraham, life will be good.
But I’m wondering if this is the best way to read the Bible. First of all, some of these Bible characters were not exactly role models — David loved God very much, sure, but he was also a warrior who killed lots of people, and even killed his own friend so that his friend wouldn’t find out that David had cheated with his wife. So I’m not sure I actually want to be like them.
And secondly, when we read the Bible by focusing on the human characters, the Bible stops being good news. Actually it becomes really bad news. Because when we see the human characters as main characters, suddenly the story is about how to be good enough, how to get God’s blessings by being good, and how to avoid being bad. The message will be something like You’d better be good enough to get God’s blessings; if you’re not good enough, no blessings for you.
But how about a different way to read Bible stories? Instead of reading them with the people as the main characters, instead we could read them with God as the main character. Like our story today: Abraham does a lot here, he listens to God when God tells him to go to a faraway land, leaving behind his home and his family. And that’s a noble, obedient thing to do.
But God is the one who called him in the first place. He makes a promise to Abraham to bless him and his children, and to bless all people through them. And later on in the passage God promises to give the land to Abraham and his children. Notice how God doesn’t say I’ll do this for you if you’re really good, I’ll do this for you if you go to church every Sunday, I’ll do this for you if you do something really impressive. God just makes a promise. And he sticks to it. God stuck by Abraham even when Abraham seems to forget the promise. Later on, after this story, God stuck by Abraham’s children, saving them from famine, saving them from Egypt. He stuck by Abraham’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandson, King David, even though David cheated with his friend’s wife and then killed his friend. God stuck by Abraham’s descendants even though they forgot about God, and he even sent his son Jesus to save them, and he stuck by them even after they killed Jesus. And all of this started with that one promise made to Abraham.
Do you see how reading the Bible with God as the main character changes things? Now the Bible doesn’t hang over you, warning you to do better or you won’t get God’s blessings, or do better or else God will zap you with a thunderbolt. Now the Bible becomes actual good news: God has been faithful even when we haven’t been, but God is the one who holds the story together, not us; he makes the promise and keeps it, even when we fail; and he remembers his promises after thousands of years, all the way from Abraham to Jesus; he remembers even when we forget.
I think this is a better way to read the Bible. Focusing on ourselves and how we can earn a good life will crush us, and it will lead to death. But focusing on what God has done for us, and finding rest and comfort in him because it is finished, this will lead to life.
And I hope you will find this: rest, and life.
Remember, My Lord 
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