Scripture: The Lord
had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s
household to the land I will show you. (Genesis 12:1 NIV)
He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if
indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. (Genesis
15:5, 6 NIV)
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an
Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from
having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through
her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Then Sarai
said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my
slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me.
May the Lord judge between you and me.” (Genesis 16:1, 2, 4, 5 NIV)
Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you
and your descendants after you for the generations to come. (Genesis 17:9 NIV)
Observation: In these
chapters, we read about God's covenant with and promises to Abram. God orders
Abram to leave everything he knows and most of what he loves and go to a
strange country. Abram does this. Good man. Then God promises Abram offspring
and a long and plentiful lineage. Abram is said to have believed the Lord. Once
again, great. We know however that Abram and Sarai had no children at that
point, and even though Abram had believed God's promise, he and Sarai decide to
help God's plan along a little bit. Then we have the whole incident with the
slave girl Hagar. And big surprise, it backfires! When it does, Sarai blames
Abram and he takes no responsibility. Sound familiar? God however comes to
Abraham and reminds him that he needs to keep his covenant in orders for God's promises
to be fulfilled.
Application: When God
makes a promise, He keeps it. We need to stay true to His word however and not
try and rush along what He has in store for us. God always knows what is best
for us and when we try and take things in our own hands, we are bound to end up
in a place of hurt. Being human, we are all bound to do this at some point and
when we do, we need to take responsibility for our mistakes and hold on to
God's promises and obey Him in everything.
Prayer: Lord, help
me to stay true to your word and obey you in all things. Thank you for being
faithful in everything and for having an awesome plan for my life. Help me to
take responsibility when I do mess up and thank you for forgiving me every
time. Thank you for your amazing blessings everyday, despite my weakness when I
stray from the path you have laid out.
Next reading: Genesis 19-24
Blog link: http://readthebiblein180days.blogspot.com/
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