Daily Bible Study

Tweet

Day 10 Genesis 17:1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, “I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. 2 And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.” 3 And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, 4 “As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. 5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. 6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. 7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. 8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” 9 And God said unto Abraham, “Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. 11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. 12 And he who is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he who is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. 13 He who is born in thy house, and he who is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14 And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.” 15 And God said unto Abraham, “As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. 16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.” 17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, ‘Shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years old? And shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?’ 18 And Abraham said unto God, “O that Ishmael might live before thee!” 19 And God said, “Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.” 22 And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham. When you spend time with your friends, you do so face to face, talking, laughing, and enjoying each other’s company. God spent time with Abraham. He appeared to Abraham and talked with him about His plans for him. God’s appearance didn’t astonish him. God’s first order of business was to change Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah. Abraham accepted the name change for himself and Sarah. However, God astonished him when He told him He would give him a son in his old age and He would give Sarah a child. God went as far as establishing a new covenant between Him and Abraham and the people who would come from him. God told him what the child’s name would be when Abraham laughed at being a father at 100 years of age and Sarah a mother at ninety. His name would be Isaac, which means laughter. Abraham asked God to bless Ishmael, thinking that God would instead choose Ishmael instead of giving him a child with Sarah. God heard his request and told him He would bless Ishmael, but the covenant would be through Isaac. As Christians, you know nothing is impossible with God. When He does something in your life, it is in His timing, not yours. Everything in life is on God’s timetable. When you pray, as Abraham and Sarah prayed for many years for a child, and you don’t get an answer, it isn’t because God hasn’t heard your prayer. It’s because His time for answering it hasn’t come yet. God promised Abraham his descendants would inherit the land of Canaan when He told Abram to count the stars in the sky. He told him they would inherit the land in 400 years. In that time, Abraham’s descendants would be slaves to a foreign nation, but He would bring them out of slavery and bring them to the Promised Land. He gave Abraham the same promise when He told him he would be the father of many nations and they would inherit the land of Canaan. When God gives you a promise in your prayer time, you don’t always understand why God is doing what He promised, but as the days go forward, everything soon becomes clear, as it did for Abraham. Do you accept what God tells you in your prayer time? Or do you laugh as Abraham did and ask for something else instead? Something more convenient to your understanding. God has a plan for your life. He reveals His plans a little at a time. With Abraham, he started showing him His plan when He told him to count the stars in the sky. He revealed another part of His plan when He told him he would have a son and changed his and Sarai’s names. You need to allow God to reveal His plans for your life and accept them, because they will always be a blessing. Let’s pray: Father, I don’t always understand what You are doing in my life. Help me accept Your plans for me as You work out Your will in my life. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. Copyright © 23 June 2021 by Valerie Routhieaux Image courtesy of Pixabay