Today's Scripture
Covenant of Circumcision – GENESIS 17
Today’s Reading Schedule: Genesis 12-15(CEB)- Click to read
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. 2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”
3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram[f]; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 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. 8 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.”
9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. 10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 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. 13 Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
15 God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 16 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.”
17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old?Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”
19 Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac.[h] I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.” 22 When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
RJ's Devotion
What Does the passage Mean to Me/US?
The more I read about Abraham, the more I realized he was called the ‘father of many’ because we see ourselves through his weakness.
Regardless of all the great things he experienced, through his obedience, so often we see how Abraham fell. God, in God’s grace, needed to come and remind Abraham of God’s promise.
After Abraham encounters God, witnessing how God confirm’s the promise through the sacrifice, he takes Hagar to have Ismahel.
In a way, how can we blame him? It was ten year’s since God first called him from his hometown, and he still might thought this would be a way for God’s will to be done.
Like Abraham, we are impatient. Like Abraham, we tend to do things our ways, thinking that it is God’s ways.
Like Abraham, we doubt if God’s ways will be done.
Through Abraham, we see God’s faithfulness. Even though Abraham fell, God came to remind him of God’s promise.
Even though Abraham did not have the full character to be called ‘father of many nations’ God saw the potential of a person who did his best to follow God. And God never gave up.
And God is promising, through Abraham, that God will do the same for us.
Prayer
Lord, we see your everlasting grace through Abraham. It is not what we do, but truly because what you did for us, we are called to this covenant. We are thankful for your love and grace. Remind us today, how you are calling us to be faithful to your covenant. In Christ Name, we pray, AMEN
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