Good morning y’all. Today we in chapter 17 of Genesis. Interestingly there is a 13yr gap between this chapter and the previous one. We don’t know what happened to Abram in those 13yrs. Perhaps God was not pleased with him seeing as he doubted him and had a child by Hagar.

Let’s see what we can glean from the chapter. I pray Holyspirit enlightens us as we study 🙂

Verse 1 says: When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord  appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.(NKJV). Here, God is reintroducing himself again to Abram as God Almighty after 13yrs of silence. Some translations say Sovereign God (NET) or All Powerful(CEVUS06) or El-Shaddai (NLT).  It’s like God is reminding him again that I call the shots and not you! He then gave him an instruction…He said walk before me and be blameless. This suggest to me that Abram in those 13yrs was not walking upright as God desired. Some translations interpret this as ‘obey me and always do right’ (CEVUS06 ), ‘serve me faithfully and live a blameless life’ (NLT ). To be blameless here means to be without fault. That is to do the right thing and no wrong is found in you. We know in previous chapter that Abram didn’t do the right thing by sleeping with Hagar. So here God was telling him as from now on if you obey me and do what’s right I will make my covenant with you. Obedience!!! again it is very important, if we want to enjoy God’s best for us. Like Abram God requires us to be obedient to his commands and do what is right.

What you are being called makes a difference. God changed Abrams name to Abraham. His old name was not in line with where God was taking him so God had to change his name so that his new name was a reflection of the promise. Abraham means father of many. This was in line with the covenant and promise God made to him. Truth is society gives us a name or label – ‘the fat one’, ‘the useless one’, ‘the skinny one’, ‘stupid’, ‘failure’, ‘ugly one’…Good news is we dont have to accept those name no more for we are now in Christ. We have a new name in Him. Today, lets ask God to open our eyes so we can begin to see ourselves as God sees us – the victorious one, the head and not the tail, the chosen one…

Covenant is an agreement between 2 or more parties. Each party has a responsibility in the agreement. When one party fails to abide by the terms and conditions of the covenant, the covenant becomes null and breached. Usually there are consequences when that happens. In this case God made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants. Abrahams part was to obey the terms -which was to make sure every male young and old was circumcised and going forward every male baby should be circumcised on the 8th day. As long as Abraham and his descendants obeyed the terms, the covenant stood. God is always on point to fulfill his side of the covenant. We know He never lies or fails. We are usually the ones holding God back due to our disobedience. I pray God will give us a heart that’s willing to obey at all times.

Abraham doubted God’s promise to give a son through Sarah. Biologically speaking it was highly impossible for Sarah to get pregnant. She was 90 and even Abraham was almost100…They were just too old. So Abraham laughed at the promise.  Abrahams doubt was so strong that he even asked God to let Ishmael be the promised child. God refused because indirectly that meant Abraham was trying to tell God that he is not able to bring his promise to pass, that he is a liar and not powerful enough even though earlier on God introduced himself as the All powerful Sovereign one. Abraham couldn’t believe because he was looking at his situation through the natural eye. But I thank God that he didn’t give up on Abraham rather God stood by his word and went on to tell Abraham when the promised child was going to be born and the name of the child.
Friends I don’t know what promise God has made to you that seems impossible today. Perhaps like Abraham the circumstances around you are telling you to forget the promise cos there is just no way it can happen. I’m begging you today to not give up on God. God is not a man that He would lie. Though the promise may tarry it will surely come to pass. God is the all powerful one. He can do anything he chooses to do, when he chooses to do it. Take your focus off the situation and put your focus on the one who is able to do exceedingly above all you can ask or imagine. Stay in faith and keep your hope alive and God will surely come through for you. If he did it for Abraham, He can do it for you too. He is the same God yesterday today and forever!  Be encouraged 🙂

Prayer:
Dear Lord we thank you for today. We thank you for loving us unconditionally.  We ask today you gave us a heart that is willing to obey you. For as many of us that are weary we ask you encourage us today and give us the grace to trust you more and believe in your promises. Thank you Lord. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Thank you for joining today.

Have a blessed day and let’s get to obeying and trusting God today 🙂

***With God all things are possible***