Listen

When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am El Shaddai. Walk with me and be trustworthy. I will make a covenant between us and I will give you many, many descendants.” Abram fell on his face, and God said to him, “But me, my covenant is with you; you will be the ancestor of many nations. And because I have made you the ancestor of many nations, your name will no longer be Abram but Abraham. I will make you very fertile. I will produce nations from you, and kings will come from you. I will set up my covenant with you and your descendants after you in every generation as an enduring covenant. I will be your God and your descendants’ God after you.”

Genesis 17:1-7

Think

Christianity demands that we believe a lot of things that at first seem hard to believe. The hard part starts from the beginning, all the way here to Genesis. God tells an old man that he and his also old wife (who is barren, by the way) will become the parents of a multitude of nations. Unbelievable!

How can we fact check this story? It seems so outlandish that it couldn’t possibly be true. Even Abram didn’t believe it at first. And even after he does believe, he later doubts again. And makes some bad mistakes because of his doubt. But that’s later. For now, we stand with Abram and hear God say something that’s wild. Abram and Sarai step out on faith. And the rest, as they say, is history. Today, we have the advantage of knowing the story was true and being challenged to listen to God in new ways because of it.

Mark Wingfield

Pray

God of surprises, open my eyes and ears to your promises, even when they seem outlandish. Strengthen my faith so that I might step out in trust. Amen.

Go

Go, empowered by the real truth of God’s promises and commit to be a truth-teller yourself.

Go in peace, live in truth.