Keeping the birds off... but Abram drove them away. [Genesis 15:11] Reading: Genesis 15:1-11, 17-18 Here is a classic story from the Old Testament. Foundational to our understanding of the covenantal nature of the relationship the Jews had with God and which we in turn have inherited. Before we think of Moses and the covenant of Sinai and the Ten Commandments and all that goes with it, we are introduced to Abram who left Ur in Chaldea, the old Mesopotamia now Iraq, to discover the place that God had promised to him. We come to this special experience for Abram when after maybe eight years since his first response to God, God invites him to covenant with himself. It is a primitive invitation to our thinking but relevant to its time as God asks from Abram the sacrifice of: a heifer, a goat and a ram... a dove and a young pigeon [Genesis 15:9] as his part of the ritual, this binding between Man and God, his offering towards this mutual commitment that they would make. These animals are all carefully selected we can imagine, set out and divided, and when the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking brazier with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram. [ibid 17] The sacrifice was accepted, The bargain was sealed. A new and peculiar relationship was begun. *
But there is an intervening element to this story. In response to God s request for sacrifice and Abram s preparation there were other things to contend with: Birds of prey came down on the carcasses. [Genesis 15:11] We could imagine that. He had to guard his offering. Watch it and preserve it until the fire came down and God accepted the offering he had made. And so as the birds came - Abram drove them away. [Genesis 15:11] He needed to do that. That image presents us with a challenge. The suggestion is that we need to be proactive in taking care of our commitments. In a sense it is not difficult to make promises to God and to set out our promises, what we will do, how we will be. With the best of intentions many have moved towards God in that way equally it would be true to say that we have moved towards each other in a similar way, in our marriage commitments, our dedication promises, in agreements made and promises given. We have done that, we can believe, with all sincerity. But between our intentions and their fulfilment there is that sense of the birds of prey who might seek to destroy the offering we have made or intend to make. We sense potential dangers, we are wise to them. Jesus recognised that. His parable of the seed sown broadcast is clear that not every best intentioned commitment stands, not every seed bears fruit in fact he helps our story by telling us, some (seed) fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up [Luke 8:5]
No Abram to pick it up and keep the birds away. Some is lost to poor soil, some to thorn and weed infested soil. In this parable: The seed is the word of God. [ibid 11-15] It is a parallel idea. Each seed has its possibilities just as each commitment we make has its possibilities, but it needs to be preserved and nurtured and given its opportunity. If Jesus talks about the word of God and all the dangers it faces in finding a root in the human life, then how much more do we become aware of the dangers that our commitments face in a world which has lost sight of the concept of commitment. Maybe now more than in a long time the birds of prey would peck away at our sacrifices. Why do we need to belong, why do we need to commit, what does it matter, why should I make promises to anybody or anything. It is about me. We need to watch for them. It can be the difference between success and failure in the spiritual life. But what do they look like do you think, these birds of prey? My internet search tells me there are thirtysix types of birds of prey in the Israeli area today 3 different kinds of vultures and 7 different types of eagle, besides the kites and harriers and osprey. What was it Abram was driving away? Maybe there were more then! We can t know of course, but it seems he potentially had a great deal to contend with in order to look after his sacrifice. And so can we. Our relationships can be threatened by other people. I read a story of a woman
who found herself attracted to another man. They met every day on the train to work. She confided in her husband. He gave her good advice. Take a different train. [Major Charles Durman, Salvationist, 19 th August 2012] Friendships can spoil our commitment. We make unwise friendships, we are introduced to things that maybe of ourselves we might avoid. Particularly for our young people, but not always so, peer pressure can destroy our best intentions. I have been around long enough to see generations of youngsters fascinated by the forbidden, grown people who modify their standards to fit in. For what? I was brought up surrounded by drink, smoking, gambling there is little that is attractive about it. Personally there is nothing attractive about it. But to those who don t know the destructive nature of these and other associated things like the proverbial moth to the flame, we are drawn because they are forbidden and learn too late. They swoop down on our sacrifice and it is snatched away. Spoiled. Well meaning people suggest our commitments need not be so severe or extensive. Our family sometimes. They say I can a Christian be and serve God quite as well, And reach heaven just as surely by the music of church bells [SASB 780:3 Frederick Booth-Tucker] It may be so. And we can serve God in a host of secular professions. Equally true. But the call to commitment, to service, to soldiership and officership to covenant, is a real thing. God invited Abram into this relationship and he invites us still if we will respond. Don t let the birds steal it from you.
Nobody remembers those who were the same as everybody else. But it is not always about other people. James reminds us each is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. [James 1:14] We can take ourselves off the altar: sometimes because we become disappointed or disillusioned. We get hurt. And Peter tells his own story when he reminds us: your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for some-one to devour. Resist him... [I Peter 5:8] We are confronted on every side by challenges to our faith Turmoil s without, within [SASB 615:1 John Oxenham] Any suggestions I make you can add to from your own experience and by your own thinking. The truth is there in this story between our intention and our commitment other forces stand against us. for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. [Ephesian 6:12] Our culture is part of it: Don t let the world squeeze you into its mould [Romans 12:2 J.B. Phillips] And they work in many and different ways they become our birds of prey, devouring our offering.
Birds of prey came down but Abram, drove them away. He preserved his sacrifice, as we need to. Like the parable of the sower, it is those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. [Luke 8:15] It is left to the weak and the careless to remember better days and to regret they were not stronger and better people when the birds of prey came down. * The greatest thing in all my life is knowing you [SoF 1534] Needs to be more than rhetoric.