Year 1, Week 4, Day 4 Bible Reading Observations

Year 1, Week 4, Day 4

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Genesis 17-18 .

Today’s reading continues its focus on Abram, who, as today’s reading describes, will become known as Abraham. Today’s reading also: revisits the details of the Abrahamic Covenant, as more facets and features of the covenant are unfolded; reveals a name change also for Sarai, who will now be known as Sarah; announces the soon arrival of Abraham and Sarah’s first child, Isaac; and records Abraham’s intercession for Sodom, in light of its impending destruction.

The events recorded in today’s reading begin about thirteen years after the events found in Genesis 16, and about twenty-four years after the LORD first appeared to Abraham as recorded in Genesis 12. Abraham is now ninety-nine and Sarah is ninety. While the LORD has been incrementally providing further and fuller details of His covenant promises and plans, with each year that goes by, it seems less likely that any of these plans and promises will come to see their fulfillment.

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading is how it reveals God’s commitment to nurture the faith of His people. To a childless couple who are both in their tenth decade, the LORD declares: “I am God Almighty” (Genesis 17:1). God, by His Word, assures His people of His ability to carry out His plans and promises: “O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O LORD, with your faithfulness all around you?” (Psalm 89:8). As God Almighty, there is nothing that is impossible for the LORD to do. The LORD God Almighty can bring into existence something from nothing. This declaration from the LORD about Himself strengthened Abraham: “He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.” (Romans 4:19-21). And it strengthened Sarah: “By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.” (Hebrews 11:11-12). Time may not have seemed to be in favor of Abraham and Sarah having a child; however, this did not diminish what the LORD would be able to do. God Speaks about Himself so that His people’s faith is made stronger.

But God nurtures faith in His people, not only by what He declares about Himself, but also through what He declares about His people themselves: “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.” (Genesis 17:4-5). The change of name for Abraham was meant to help Abraham to see himself differently. Abraham, by the mighty grace of God, was given a new identity. Abraham’s new name, which is from the LORD, is designed to redirect how Abraham saw himself in light of God’s plans and promises. Every recall as well as mention of his name underscored God’s assurance that he would be the father of a multitude. God’s Word accomplishes what it announces: "For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.” (Psalm 33:9).

God also nurtures the faith of His people and faith in His people, by how His Word discloses the heart of the LORD toward His people. God does not merely have plans and promises for His people, He purposes to be with His people: “And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.” (Genesis 17:7-8). At the heart of God’s covenant arrangements is the heart that the LORD has for His people. The LORD promises and purposes to be present with His people. God’s promises to Abraham included not merely a seed and a place, but more importantly, His presence. The promise of God’s relational presence with His people, which is declared to Abraham and Sarah for the strengthening of the reliance upon the LORD, will run throughout the Scripture: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (Revelation 21:3).

As the LORD nurtures His people’s faith in Him, that nurtured faith expresses itself through how we live: “walk before me, and be blameless” (Genesis 17:1b). The LORD’s presence with us begins altering us as we reflect Him before others around us. The LORD strengthens the faith of His people and a strengthened faith is manifested by enlarged devotion to the LORD and expanded distinctiveness before the world.

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe