Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. 2And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” 3Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him,
4“As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 5No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 6I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.
7I 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.
15God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”
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When the Lord showed up at Abram’s 99th birthday party, it wasn’t the first time the two had met. That happened two dozen years before, when Abram was a youthful 75. “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land I will show you,” God had said to him then, and Abram had gone, taking everything he owned. No map, of course; God’s promise was the only map he had. This is how Abram and Sarai lived for the next 24 years. Whenever they felt like giving up, God would not let them.
Then when Abram was one year short of 100 years-old, the Lord appeared to him again to renew God’s promise to them. On this occasion, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, meaning “father of a multitude of nations,” and Sarai’s name to Sarah, for “kings of peoples shall come from her.” I can imagine Abraham saying, “Father of a multitude! Who does he think he’s kidding?” And I can imagine Sarah saying, “I don’t have any kids much less kings! Give me a break!”
It’s hard to believe in a promise—to live by it, day after day. And yet. What better way to live than in the promises of God? To wake up every morning to see if there are any glimpses of those promises in the day ahead? Sure enough God keeps God’s promises. There was a day in Sarah’s 90th year, when she came to Abraham and said, “I have something to tell you.”
Prayer: “Dear Lord: Help me to live today in the promise of your love and your forgiveness in all that is to come. Amen.”
—Pastor Mark Nelson