Genesis 17:23-27

Good morning, dear friends!

Well, it’s back to school today, after a whirlwind tour of Washington, DC, and finally getting to meet our Penelope! Oh, she is teeny!!! So cute and sweet, and as Beau says, soft! I am overwhelmed by the goodness of God, who continues to surprise me with His attention to the details in our lives! He answers immeasurably more than we think or ask (Eph. 3:20). Thank you to the many who prayed for Anne, the other teacher who was with our tour. I am planning on keeping in touch with her.

I just wanted to finish off Genesis 17 this morning with a note about Abraham’s obedience in verses 23-27:

On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, and his son Ishmael was thirteen; Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that very day. And every male in Abraham’s household, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him.


On that very day... Abraham did not argue with God, or question the instructions, or consult friends for advise; he obeyed God immediately. Even though it would be personally very painful! I like that Jon Courson points out here that Abraham did not think that, because he was 99 years old, he himself did not need to do this. There is a tendency as we get older to step aside and sit down - remembering what we did years ago for God. We expect the younger people in the church to step up and take over. But, until God calls us home, He has something for us to do. And Abraham stepped up, took the lead for his family and his entire household, and modeled obedience!

And he didn’t TELL Ishmael to go get circumcised. Abraham took him by the hand and did the job! It’s not enough to tell our children to go to church or to study the Bible or to pray; we need to take them by the hand and do it with them, until it becomes their daily habit as well. Do not expect your children to get everything they need spiritually at Sunday School! They spend no more than an hour and a half there each week. That will NOT cut it! As parents and grandparents, the spiritual instruction of our children is our responsibility - even if it means leading them by the hand. When you take them to church each week, you are building a pattern for them, an expectation that this is the life of a disciple of Christ. It involves community, commitment of our time and resources, and accountability. And they need to see that it is NOT a ritualistic thing we check off each week - it is the one day we all truly look forward to, because we are going to the house of the LORD! It’s a privilege!

Heading for school!

 

Genesis 17:15-27

God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” (vs. 15-16)

Okay, friends, today’s passage is a new favorite of mine! And, although I’d love to come up with something new and inspired on this passage, I know that I don’t have an original thought in my brain! I’m a compilation of all the things I’ve heard and read before. But, somehow, the Holy Spirit will use those mixed up thoughts in my brain to give me a fresh look at something I’ve seen before. So, for today’s look at this last half of Gen. 17, I’m giving many thanks to Beth Moore - for no one says it better! :)

God has just finished confirming His covenant and given a new name to Abraham. In chapter 16, He appeared to Hagar and blessed her. So, what about Sarai? Well, here are the two most encouraging words of the day from verse 15: God also... Oh, how grateful I am that God did not forget Sarai!!! Beth points out, however, that God did not appear with this great blessing to Sarai directly as He had done to Hagar and Abraham. What gives? Was He snubbing her, because of the mess she’s created with Hagar? We know that it’s not because she was a woman, and therefore the blessing must come through her husband, because He DID speak directly to Hagar. So why give this great news to Abraham instead of to Sarah?? Well, Beth speculates, and I really like this thought, that possibly Abraham needed to hear that Sarah was blessed, even more than she needed to hear it! Here’s Beth’s take:

I don’t believe God was avoiding Sarai to punish her for her foolish decisions. Goodness knows Abraham made plenty. God may have wanted Abraham himself to view Sarah as blessed, changing how Abraham - as her husband - identified her.


Possibly Abraham thought Sarai was the obstacle to the fulfillment of God’s promises. Obviously, Ishmael proved Abraham still had the ability to sire a son in the years immediately following the promises. Sarai was the holdup. Whether or not Abraham consciously deducted such, his attitude suggests that he believed Sarai’s barrenness was more powerful than God’s promises. That’s why he kept suggesting others ways of helping God to fulfill His promise, not the least of which is found in Genesis 17:18, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!” In his wildest imagination, Abraham did not think God could use Sarai. She was, after all, unfruitful. Unable. Unusable.


That very well may be why God spoke Sarai’s blessings into Abraham’s own ears. Abraham needed to stop seeing his wife as the hang-up and start seeing her as the “how.”


Okay - now doesn’t that totally speak to you?? Haven’t we all. at some point, seen someone, including possibly our spouses, as the “holdup” in our blessings?? I know that when I was a young wife and mother, I certainly held the notion that if only Don would be the spiritual leader in our home, and become active at church and involved in Bible study, our home would be truly blessed. How I thank God that He called me out on that one early on! You see, I had written in my prayer journal this very “sanctified” prayer list for Don: that he would become the spiritual leader, do devotions with our girls, get into a good men’s Bible study, come to church, etc. All things that I was sure were what God wanted for Don (and actually, I do believe that would be God’s desire, as well). However, while I had this list to pray over, I was actually sowing seeds of discontent in my heart while I waited for the perfect Don!

One morning, as I was praying over this list, God very clearly spoke to me. It was only one of two times in 35 years that I actually believe I heard His voice speaking in my ear: “Sally, you are to love Don just the way He is TODAY, because that’s the way I love him!” Wow! I took my pencil and crossed off the list, and wrote in the margin, “Thank you, God, for Don, just the way he is today!” I can’t tell you how that freed me up to see the wonderful husband God had given me. He may not have led devotions, but he was the most devoted husband and father I could have asked for. This actually, I believe, removed a barrier that I had placed between Don and God with my discontent. I was waiting for him to change, and I’m sure Don was resisting that somehow. Anyway, it revolutionized my marriage, and let God go to work freely. After all, He loves our loved ones much more than we do!

I am so thankful that Sarai, became Sarah, the princess, who would have kings as her descendants. And I’m so grateful that God let Abraham know just how blessed she was! My name is a derivative of Sarah, so I, too, am a “princess” - a daughter of the King of Kings!

Running late!

Genesis 17:1-14

HAPPY “LABOR DAY!” As I write this, Emmy, Nathan, Beau, and Aunt Molly are on their way to the airport to fly to Salt Lake City. The plan was that they would meet the birth mom at dinner tonight, then tomorrow the doctor would induce the birth of our new granddaughter, Penelope. I guess Penelope did not want to be an April Fool, because Emmy called me at 11:15 p.m. last night to tell me that the birth mom’s water had broken! So, we’re reminded, once again, that our plans are not always God’s - and His are never thwarted! Please pray for the birth mom as she labors, then releases this baby. Pray that God will use this in her life to draw her closer to Him, and bless her for choosing life for this little girl. May she, like Hagar, see the One who sees her! Which brings me back to our study...

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”


Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.” (vs 1-8)

Here God basically affirms the promises made in Genesis 12 and 15. Note that the one principle that surrounds this covenant is grace. This is all about what God will do for Abram and his descendants. In fact, God says, “....this is my covenant...”

This covenant, is an everlasting covenant. Even though the Jews were scattered from the area in 70 AD, God promised this land would still be theirs. In Ezekial 11:17 He promised, “I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.” Certainly, this regathering beginning in 1948, when the state of Israel was declared in modern times. However, they still do not fully possess the whole land of Canaan, the entire 300,000 square miles God promised them here in verse 8. One day they will, because God has declared it.

Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. (vs. 9-12)

Okay, this is painful to read. I’m sure men cringe when they read it! Why did God choose circumcision as the symbol of this covenant? Wasn’t there an easier way to demonstrate this covenant? Why not a pierced nose or the cutting off of an earlobe? Why not a tattoo??? Why the foreskin? And why at eight days instead of 13 years, which is when many cultures recognize the coming into manhood? I love Beth Moore’s take on this. God is not squeamish about the subject of circumcision, but He is, in fact, deliberate. This symbol of the covenant was NOT about coming into manhood or self-sufficiency. It was about complete reliance on our covenant-keeping God, and pointed to the blessing of the promise: offspring and lineage. This mark was not a publicly seen mark - it was, as Beth says, a private “reminder to the man himself that he belonged to God and that his strength, virility, and abliity to bear much fruit rested in the blessing of God Almighty.”


Indeed, when we receive Christ as our LORD and Savior, there is no visible stamping of a cross on our foreheads - it is our HEARTS that are circumcised (Rom 4:9-12, and Gal 2:15-21). The only outward sign to the world that we belong to God is our changed lives. And the ability to change our lives and bear much fruit rests completely in God. It is by grace from first to last!

Tomorrow we’ll look at the changes that begin from this point for Abram and Sarai. Good things are coming!

Genesis 17: 1

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”

Why am I just looking at the first verse of this chapter today? Well, truthfully, I’m running late and the cleaning lady is coming today, so, naturally, I need to clean up first! But, mainly, because there is so much here in just this verse, we could spend two days here! :)

Yesterday we saw Hagar head back to submit to Sarai - and she had her baby, Ishmael. Well, in this next chapter, Ishmael is already 13 yrs. old!! It had been more than 13 years since Abram had encountered God. What was God doing all that time? Had He taken a break? Had He forgotten Abram? Abram must have wondered if he had forfeited the blessing by taking matters into his own hands with Hagar. Jon Courson points out in his commentary that Abram is called the friend of God, so you have to wonder why the silence. Well, Courson says, it’s because he’s also called the father of faith, and faith grows best when we have to exercise it. It is in the silences, the hard times when we don’t FEEL the presence of God - when we have to just BELIEVE that He is with us and that He is still working on our behalf - that our faith is both challenged and strengthened.

Finally, God comes to Abram again and reminds him, “I am God Almighty.” This is the first use of God’s name, El Shaddai. The word El speaks of God’s might, His right arm of strength, while Shaddai apparently comes from the word for breast, signifying the nurturing love of God. He is both all-powerful and tender - He is not only ABLE, but He is also WILLING to be everything we need: our rock, our shield, our defense, our provision, and our Abba Father! We’re going to note that hist encounter between God and Abram is ALL about God and what HE will do. Twenty-four times we read “I will...” as God makes it very clear that this covenant He’s about to make is all HIS doing, even though Abram participates in it.

Tomorrow we’ll get into the actual covenant, but we need to first remember that it is only a valid covenant because the One who makes it is El Shaddai, our Almighty God! If you feel like you have been in a period of silence from God, and you are not sure WHAT, or even IF He is doing anything in your life, hold on! You may just be in for an encounter of your own. And the best place to meet Him? In His glorious Word!!

Meet you here tomorrow!