God had given circumcision as a sign
of the covenant He had made with Abram and He even changed his name to Abraham.
Circumcision as we know is irreversible. It speaks appropriately of the
covenant God was making with Abraham. In that covenant, the new name Abraham was
no longer only the exalted father but the father of many nations. God now turned
to talk about Sarai, his wife. As He had renamed Abram, God also renamed Sarai.
She was no longer to be called Sarai but Sarah. God then proceeded to reiterate
the promise He had made to Abraham. And Sarah would bear a son for Abraham. And
just as Abraham would be the father of many nations, she would be the mother of
nations. From her one seed, many kings of people will come forth.
When Abraham received the news, he
fell to the ground and laughed. He was in disbelief, so he exclaimed in his
heart, “Will
a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is
ninety years old, bear a child?” He was looking from the human
perspective. To have a son at the age of 100 was impossible. Besides Sarah was
90 years old and well passed the ability to bear a son. Humanly speaking, to
bear a child was out of the question. He was in utter disbelief so he laughed.
And he remembered Ishmael. And told God that perhaps He should consider him.
For he was a child of his also but through Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian maid. Spiritual
things are spiritually discerned. God knew the human heart perfectly, so He did
not chide Abraham for his disbelief. He knew it was impossible for him to see
how it could happen in those natural circumstances. God assured him that He
would do it.
God was serious. He was bent on giving Abraham a son
through Sarah. God had Isaac in mind. So He said to Abraham, “No, but Sarah
your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac;
and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for
his descendants after him.” Isaac was to be the crux of His promise. It
would be through him that the descendants of Abraham would come. He would be the
one to bring about the promise of God’s covenant to Abraham. However, God did
not forget Ishmael, his son with Hagar. He knew Abraham’s heart. So He declared
to Abraham that though Ishmael was not the one through whom many nations would
come, yet he would still be blessed. Ishmael would be blessed with a great
nation and be the father of 12 rulers. God’s emphasis was Isaac. He would be
the son through whom the covenant with Abraham would come through. God even gave
a definite timing to Isaac’s birth. He told Abraham categorically that, “My
covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at
this season next year.” Having made His intension clear, God left.
We are not told what Abraham thought, of all the things
God had spoken. But his action spoke loudly and eloquently. Abraham believed
God categorically. That’s the point. Everything might not make sense humanly
speaking, but he took God at His word. The very next day, He did all that God
had instructed. Beginning from Ishmael, including himself, and all male
servants, he had every male circumcised as told. He had the covenant with God
ratified on his part. Abraham leaves us with an example on how we ought to
respond to God. Like him, we must take God at His word even in what seems like
the most unlikely situations. God is able. With God nothing is impossible. He
can do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ever think or imagine. Let’s
trust Him absolutely.
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