In Genesis 16, God gave “cut covenant” with Abram. He promised Abram he’d be a father of many nations. He passed through Abram’s sacrifice with fire. It had to be one of those moments that carried Abram for a long, long time, don’t you think? I know I’ve had moments in God’s presence that flowed through days of awe.
But then, for Abram… nothing. Nothing happened. Sarai and he passed the age of childbearing. No descendant. So he took matters into his own hands and created a giant, still-resonating mess with Hagar and Ishmael.
So, what did God have to say about all of this?
Genesis 17:4a (GW)–My promise is still with you.
Decades had passed. Abram had really, really stepped in it trying to do it on his own. He honestly had to be wondering if God had just forgotten all about him. (And oddly enough, in spite of all of this, Hebrews 11 credits him with faith. That is SO encouraging to ME. Think God meant for it to be?) But here God shows up and says, “Hey, in spite of it all, my promise is STILL with you.”
I love the “still” there. It’s part of God’s eternity. No matter what happens all over the world or throughout time, God never ceases to be there, and His promises never cease to be true. Even when it feels like all is hopeless, like He forgot all about us, like something has driven Him off of His throne, He is there. He simply is. Always.
That’s a theme for me apparently this year. He. Is. Always. There. And. He. Never. Forgets.
-JB
Dawn Lucowitz says
As I spend more time actually reading and paying attention to the bible, I realize more and more every day how I have given these people in it such a hard time. I never understood how the disciples didn’t understand that when Jesus died he was going to rise again on the third day. I mean, he told them, right? Then I spent time reading and reading and realized that between all the parables and other things going on around them, I would have totally missed it too…they don’t have the ability to go back and “Monday morning quarterback” the way we get to.
Well, Abram was another guy I gave a really hard time to. Hello, he was told that God was going to give him a son. Why didn’t he just wait on God. Wow, talk about a hypocrite. How easy is it for me to sit here and say he should have waited on God. I could tell you God was going to come through, we see it time and time again throughout the entire bible. Oh yeah, he didn’t have the whole story like I do. And a bigger “oh yeah,” how many times have I waited on God knowing and believing His promises! Not enough, that’s for sure.
And how easy it is to justify taking matters into his own hands? Once we hear and know what God wants for us, sometimes it means we need to start acting and doing, and sometimes we are to sit and wait and watch what will happen. God doesn’t always want us stay inactive and just wait, although, sometimes he does…these get me all the time!
And lastly, I will point to the first verse in this chapter, 17:1 – “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘I am God Almighty, walk before me and be blameless.” There is more than one thing I could point out here, but what jumped at me was “when Abram was 99!” I am less astounded at how old he is when he is being promised a son by his very old wife, but that He was 86 when Ishmael was born. I am not sure how old he was when God first appeared to him, but he had to be younger than 86. Over 13 years later he was still waiting on that child he was promised. Who wouldn’t lose a little faith over all that time?
This chapter shows us and reminds us that God always comes through on his promises and that His timing is perfect. He knows his plans for us, so he knows when his promises need to happen, not us.