Trusting God’s Promises

Some time later, God tested Abraham's faith. "Abraham!" God called. "Yes," he replied. "Here I am." "Take your son, your only son--yes, Isaac, whom you love so much--and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you." The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about. (Genesis 22:1-3 NLT)

Abraham was 99 years old when God told him that he was going to sire a son with his wife, Sarah.  She was 90 when they had Isaac.  Abraham was 100.  God followed through on the promise to give them a child.  This child was going to be the father of so many descendants that they could hardly be counted.

So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac's shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together, Isaac turned to Abraham and said, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "We have the fire and the wood," the boy said, "but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?" "God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son," Abraham answered. And they both walked on together. (Genesis 22:6-8 NLT)

It seemed strange, then, that the LORD would ask Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on an altar to the LORD.  Why would God ask for such a thing?  Didn’t the LORD say that Isaac would have millions of descendants?  Will Abraham follow through with this strange command?

When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. (Genesis 22:9-10 NLT)

It may seem a bit anti-climatic to us.  We know the rest of the story.  To Abraham and Isaac, though, it was all too real.  Abraham is going to obey God’s command.  I can’t imagine that the younger Abram, who lied about his wife being his sister, would have trusted God in that day.  Even the older Abram, who slept with Hagar to give God’s plan a little nudge, wouldn’t have been faithful to the LORD in this way.  The 105+ year-old Abraham, though, didn’t hesitate.  He figured that God could raise Isaac from the dead if it came to that.  Abraham trusted, though, that God would remain true to the promises.

At that moment the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Yes," Abraham replied. "Here I am!" "Don't lay a hand on the boy!" the angel said. "Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from Me even your son, your only son." Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means "the LORD will provide"). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided." (Genesis 22:11-14 NLT)

God provided.  God released Isaac.  Isaac would become the father of a great nation.  Not only that, his nation would be given another promise.

Then the angel of the LORD called again to Abraham from heaven. "This is what the LORD says: Because you have obeyed Me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by My own name that I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed--all because you have obeyed Me." (Genesis 22:15-18 NLT)

How about you?  Do you trust God this much?

God’s Promise Power

Abram was promised so many descendants that they would be like the stars in the sky. Abram believed God and that was considered righteousness.

He was getting old, though.  He was 86 and his wife Sarai was 76.  The had not had any children yet and it did not look like God was going to come through on the promise.  So, Sarai gave Abram her maidservant Haggar.  He slept with her and she bore him a child.  Abram was now going to have descendants.

Thirteen years later, the LORD spoke with Abram about the promise that his descendants would be like the stars of the sky.  God renamed him Abraham as a reminder that he would be the father of many nations.

So Abraham said to God, "May Ishmael live under Your special blessing!" But God replied, "No--Sarah, your wife, will give birth to a son for you. You will name him Isaac, and I will confirm My covenant with him and his descendants as an everlasting covenant. As for Ishmael, I will bless him also, just as you have asked. I will make him extremely fruitful and multiply his descendants. He will become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But My covenant will be confirmed with Isaac, who will be born to you and Sarah about this time next year." (Genesis 17:18-21 NLT)

God made it perfectly clear to Abraham.  Sarah was going to bear a child at the ripe young age of 90.  Don’t try to brush this off as no big deal because they lived longer back then.  This was after God limited our lives to 120 years.  Having a child at 90 back then was the same as having a child at 90 now.  It was impossible. That’s actually the point.

On that very day Abraham took his son, Ishmael, and every male in his household, including those born there and those he had bought. Then he circumcised them, cutting off their foreskins, just as God had told him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, and Ishmael, his son, was thirteen. Both Abraham and his son, Ishmael, were circumcised on that same day, along with all the other men and boys of the household, whether they were born there or bought as servants. All were circumcised with him. (Genesis 17:23-27 NLT)

Circumcision was the sign given to Abraham on that day.  The removing of foreskin from the male reproductive parts would be a constant reminder.  God is even powerful enough to control our fertility.  God can make a fertile person sterile and God can make a sterile person fertile.  That is exactly what God did with Abraham and Sarah.  God did this to show them that God is powerful enough to come through on promises.  Sarah had Abraham’s child at the age of 90.  He was 100.  God has the power to follow through on promises.

How about you?  Have you seen God follow through on promises that were “impossible?”  How did that affect your faith in God?

God’s Promise Reminders

Yesterday, we remembered that God promised never again to wipe out all of humanity with a flood.  When we look and see a rainbow, we are reminded of that promise.  God said that the rainbow will remind God as well.

Then the LORD took Abram outside and said to him, "Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That's how many descendants you will have!" And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith. (Genesis 15:5-6 NLT)

God made a promise to Abram that the Israelite children would have known to have come true.  They lived in a day where Abraham’s decedents numbered in the millions.  They only needed to wake up and look around in the morning.  God kept this promise.

After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction." After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses. So the LORD made a covenant with Abram that day and said, "I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River--the land now occupied by the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites." (Genesis 15:16-21 NLT)

It seems like a strange image, but the smoking firepot and flaming torch have significance here.  When two leaders wanted to make a binding commitment, they would lay out the carcasses of dead animals in such a way as to create an aisle.  The leaders would walk through this aisle of dead carcasses and make their covenant, essentially saying, “May I be like these dead animals if I break my part of the agreement.”  The agreement made with Abram that day was from God.  God, however, did not walk through the aisle with Abram.  God walked through with God.  In other words, God was making the covenant commitment Himself.  Abram did not need to live up to any part on his end.  He would simply be receiving the blessing from God.

At this, Abram fell face down on the ground. Then God said to him, "This is My covenant with you: I will make you the father of a multitude of nations! What's more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram. Instead, you will be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations. I will make you extremely fruitful. Your descendants will become many nations, and kings will be among them! "I will confirm My covenant with you and your descendants after you, from generation to generation. This is the everlasting covenant: I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you. And I will give the entire land of Canaan, where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God." (Genesis 17:3-8 NLT)

When God made these commitments, Abram’s name was changed.  Abraham was his new name to remind him that he would be the “father of many nations.”  Once again, God provided a reminder of what God had promised.

What reminds you of God’s promises?  What are the promises?  Is it a blessing when you remember them?

Remember God’s Promises

When the Israelites were teaching their children, they story of Noah and the Ark would have had several areas of significance.  One would be that the LORD does not tolerate wickedness – we will get what we deserve.  Another would be that the righteous are saved by the LORD, even when surrounded by evil.  Yet another significant area would be that the LORD God makes covenant commitments with us.  God makes promises.

Then God said, "I am giving you a sign of My covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. I have placed My rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of My covenant with you and with all the earth. When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, and I will remember My covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life. When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth." (Genesis 9:12-16 NLT)

Every time an Israelite child looks up to the clouds and sees a rainbow, she will be reminded of Noah, the Ark, and God’s promises.

How about you?  Do you believe that God makes promises?  What reminds you of them?