SATURDAY, June 27, 2009                                                       READ: Genesis 21: 1 - 21                                                                                                        

GOD GAVE ABRAHAM ISAAC AS HIS SON

MEMORIZE: “And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken.”         Genesis 21:1

The first time that Abram left the land of Promise and went down to Egypt (cf. Genesis 12: 10 – 26), he did so because there was asevere famine in the land. Now, here in our text, Genesis 20: 1 – 18, we see how he left Mamre and went down to Gerar, which was Philistine territory, approximately ten miles south of Gaza. We are not told why he went down, but he went down to the border of Canaan and Egypt. Abraham knew that he was heading into troublesome territory. The LORD had spoken to Him about the fulfillment of His promise which was to take place. Within a year, Sarah was going to deliver the promised son. How long after the LORD spoke to him in Mamre would he have journeyed into Gerar? Proverbs 20: 7, tells us that “The righteous man walks in his integrity; His children are blessed after him” (cf. Genesis 26:1 – 11). Abraham had been declared righteous when he believed in God (cf. Genesis 15: 6). Being righteous is not the same as being perfect or sinless. What happens when the righteous does not act in his integrity?

God has never intended that a father or a mother should serve as the number one, or, the most significant individual in a child’s life. He wants to occupy that place in each of our lives. Where either father or mother is number one, and God is not number one, the most significant individual in a child’s life, that child is being deprived of the source of abundant life. Without God being in the number one position, an individual’s life will lack what is needed to be that which God has intended it to be. Parents are not to replace God in their children’s lives. Are you in touch with that?

After Adam sinned against God’s command in the garden of Eden, speaking to the serpent, who had instigated the disobedience, God disclosed His intention to use the “seed of the woman” to do battle with the enemy and provide salvation for Adam and his descendants. That promise and its fulfillment has been the focal point of God’s redemptive activity. The Seed of the woman would be a divine being. He would be God, the Son, who would take on sinful flesh, in order that He could come and taste death for every human being (cf. Hebrews 2: 9). This fact was at the heart of the mystery which God kept hinting at. Wherever hearts were ready to buy into God’s plan, they received salvation (cf. Genesis 15: 6; Ephesians 1: 3 – 10; 3: 3-6; 1 Peter 1: 18-21). Salvation has always been through one source (cf. John 14: 6; Acts 4: 12). He was being presented through types and by shadows. By faith, many saw Him from afar and believed in him (cf. Hebrews 11: 1 – 40).

For at least twenty-five years, God had promised Abraham a heir, a son, whom Sarah, his barren wife would conceive and deliver to him. In Genesis 18: 10, God finally indicated the time when, or, in which He would fulfill His promise and enable Sarah to be able to conceive. Now, in Genesis 20: 17, 18, we see how “… Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, his wife and his female servants. Then they bore children; for the LORD had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.” Both Abraham and Sarah had contrived the situation which caused God to have had to judge Abimelech and his household. God healed them after Abraham prayed to Him for them. Is it possible, that God used this situation to get Abraham to intercede for his own wife? Is it still true that we have not because we ask not? Can we assume, then, that he did ask?

Here in Genesis 21: 1 - 7, we are able to see how God did as He had promised (cf. 18: 10) and “… visited Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken.” What did the LORD do for Sarah? In v. 2, we are told that “… Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.” God came to Sarah at the exact time that He had promised. God opened Sarah’s womb and gave it life so that she could conceive and bear a son to Abraham. How long did that take? In v. 3, we are able to see how Abraham obeyed God and gave the name Isaac to his son. In v. 4, Abraham also circumcised his son, Isaac, according to God’s instruction (cf. 17: 9 – 14). In v. 5, we are able to see that Abraham, was one hundred years of age when his son Isaac was born to him. This was twenty-five years after he entered the land of Canaan. In v. 6, we see how Sarah expressed exuberance at the privilege and opportunity which God had given to her (cf. 18: 13 – 15). She was now willing to admit to laughing at what God had done. God does not depend on natural circumstances to fulfill His will. Does Sarah’s statement indicate any kind of cynicism or skepticism on her part? Does the statement indicate any hint of surprise that God did actually do what He had promised to do? Do you believe that God can and will do what He promised? That’s what faith involves.

PRAY:LORD, You are God Almighty and I praise You for all that You have done in providing salvation for Adam’s descendants. Thank You for showing me that there is nothing too hard for You to do. Help me to trust You at every point, in Jesus’ strong name. Amen.