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Weekly Devotional

March 5, 2012

God’s Peace be with you all.

Genesis 15:1-6  After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, "Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great."  ² But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?"  ³ And Abram said, "You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir."  ⁴ But the word of the LORD came to him, "This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir."  ⁵ He brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your descendants be."  ⁶ And he believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness.

            Yesterday our Old Testament lesson was about God changing Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah.  This was in accordance with the covenant that God had originally made with Abram and Sarah (see the above text). 

            The covenants between God and Abraham occur in Genesis 12-17 (17 was our text yesterday).  There are a few differences in these covenants and how they play into the lives of Abraham, Sarah, their descendants, and even us today.  In 12 and 15, God grants land and descendants, and does so unconditionally.  Our text yesterday had a condition on it (both male descendants and male slaves purchased by Abraham had to be circumcised).  The addition of the condition brings in our own choices as to whether or not we want to follow the covenant.  It does not, however, change the covenant as it is an everlasting eternal promise from God.

            Looking ahead in Genesis, we see that the Abrahamic covenant passed to his son Isaac, but from there it did not pass to all the descendants of Abraham.  It did pass from Isaac to Jacob and then to Joseph and then to Ephraim.  However, at the time of the Babylonian Exile, the Ephraimites were defeated and the covenant got dispersed so far that it is impossible to reconnect the history. 

            As Christians, the covenant God has made with us is also unconditional to a certain extent.  In baptism, parents or sponsors make promises to bring their newly baptized children up in the house of the Lord, teaching them the 10 commandments, the creeds, etc.  However, as a grown child of God, the responsibility then falls on us to keep fulfilling that covenant.  In baptism God has called, marked, equipped, and then sends us out, to spread the Gospel, bring other people to God, and to help them in their own lives the covenant that God has made with his people.

In our prayers this week: Ann, Daniel, Scott S., Mike C., Barbara (Pat’s sister), Charles, and Christine (Andrea’s friend), Robert (Bob’s dad)