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God came to Abram
again to make the same promise He had already made, thus confirming the
covenant Abram and Sarai had heard before and just tried to fulfill
through their own ingenuity, power, and compromise with the culture. It
was, after all, now 13 years after Hagar had given birth to Ishmael. As
Ishmael was becoming a man, there were still no children through Sarai.
When in the world was God going to come through on the promises He had
made to them long ago?! God starts off this encounter by helping Abram
focus on Who He is- "I am God Almighty," the One Who can fulfill every
promise, which was bound to get his full attention. Rather than
attempting to fulfill the covenant without God, Abram and Sarai's task
was to serve God and live well as they trusted God to keep His
promises...in his own perfect timing. Both Abram and Sarai were given
new names as an expression of their new identity (a common practice
throughout Scripture). Adult males were now also commanded to be
circumcised as a way of marking the special nature of this ongoing
covenant.
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Receiving new names
and being circumcised definitely represents an incredibly high level of
commitment! I prefer baptism, which is still a symbol of dying to with
Christ to live with Him in resurrection. For followers of Jesus baptism
points the way to our new life in Christ as an outward symbol of an
inward and spiritual grace. The Bible consistently invites us to focus
more on the nature of God and less on whatever our circumstances are at
any given point in time. We are also urged to focus more on our faithful
service to the living God and less on receiving all the blessings we
feel like we deserve...on our timetable. Abram and Sarai, however, were
tired of waiting on God. One of my wife's frequently used phrases is,
"Time takes time." Perhaps that's because I have the capacity to get
impatient and try to hurry up the process to get to some desired
destination. As we wait on God's perfect timing, we can remember the
story of Abraham and Sarah. We are called to focus on the glorious
nature of God Almighty as we learn how to sin less and walk with Him
daily through our faithful service, which pushes us to look beyond our
current circumstances.
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Dear God, we give You
thanks first of simply for Who You are and then for all the ways You
communicate Your Almighty nature to us. Help us see You more clearly
through the fuzziness of whatever daily circumstances threaten to
distract us or pull us away from You. Help us face all we don't yet
understand about life on this planet with faith and trust that You are
with us on the journey. Amen. |
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"Since
you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the
realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s
right hand." (Colossians 3:1)
