READ: Genesis 17:15
CHALLENGE: Be Encouraged by the Blessing of God
God blesses and he incredibly blesses obedience. Let’s go ahead and track the blessings in this passage. To bless means to “endue with power for success, prosperity, longevity, etc”. It’s definitely includes happiness.
Let’s not look for luck or blind fate or happenstance to rule over our lives. We’re looking for God’s blessings. I look for that rather than the mere fruits of my own strength and efforts. I realize it’s wise to work hard and to tend after what God has blessed you with. However, my strength and efforts can only get me so far. I NEED GOD. As we look over this passage, I hope that you can see your need of a Heavenly Dad as well.
(trans.) Why is God so important?
- God Can Bless Your Future
Genesis 17:15-16 – God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
Your wife’s name is going from Sarai to Sarah. This childless woman will become the mother of nations. Her present reality was infertility but her future was to become the mother of peoples. Our present reality does not dictate our future. Clouds today don’t mean sunless skies tomorrow!! Sarah went from barren to bountiful. A foreigner to a mother of kings of peoples. The positive future dwarfed her negative present through the blessing of God.
God said, I will bless her and first off that meant she would have a son. How does she have a child? By the blessing of God. What are children then? Blessings of God and it’s good to remember that. How do we accomplish what we do? By the blessing of God.
As Paul said, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)
God can do more than we can even imagine! Take us father than we ever expected! Your future is brighter when you have God’s blessing. Look and Abraham and Sarah, it was more than they could think possible. To celebrate the good to come, they changed her name.
I think of Saul’s name being changed to Paul. He went from a zealot who persecuted Christians to a man who worked to convert people to Christianity. The change in his life was so astounding.
Simon, you will be called Cephas which when translated was Peter. Things are about to change. He would go from being a fisher of fish to a fisher of men.
Did her name change after Isaac was born or before? I assume that in faith, it was changed before in anticipation of this awaited blessing. They believed it would happen before it did. We learn that faith believes before it receives. You typically don’t have the answer to prayer when you ask, but you believe that you will.
We believe in so many things without seeing it. We have not attained to heaven, yet we believe that we will be there some day. We believe it before we receive it.
You may not know how good will come out of your pain but you trust God that it will (Romans 8:28). After all, God makes all things beautiful it’s its time. You hold onto faith that God is going to come through. He’s a God who blesses.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 – He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
One day Jesus aimed to feed the thousands of people who had come to hear his teaching. What did they have on hand? They had 5 loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus blessed that by giving thanks and they fed thousands. When you start passing out food, you would have to believe that it was going to work. Or else, you’d never pass anything to that first row lest you have a riot on your hands. You had to believe that God would meet you in that moment you most needed Him! Steps of faith!
I can scarcely imagine how awesome this miracle of feeding thousands would have been to witness. Their present was meager. You didn’t have much but you believed that God could multiply what you had in His hands. You had to believe it before it happened.
You’d never start a good many things if you did not anticipate that God would be there to bless it.
There are many times when you give something away believing that God will make it up to you in the future. You’ll get it back and then some, so you never worry about it. The generous don’t have less, they have more.
Proverbs 11:24-25 – One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. 25 A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.
You have to believe that God will replenish the well! His blessing is faithful.
Sarah’s future would be blessed and this is a good thing to contemplate and to believe. God meets us in the future so let’s remember that God can take you farther! He would take Sarah farther than she could ever go on her own. How many times in your life has God gotten you farther than you ever dreamed? You look at what you have and you realize how blessed you truly are.
- God Can Bless Your Impossible Situation
Vv17-18 – Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”
Abraham laughed at it. It seemed so impossible that anything could change. Perhaps after a while you stop daring to dream that something could be different. Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at 90? May Ishmael live under your blessing. Humanly speaking, Abraham is right to think the way that he does. He’s been married a long time and what is, is. Situations don’t change, right?
What situation are you in right now that seems SO impossible to change? The problem has been there for so long that you can scarcely imagine ever being free of its constraints. Don’t focus on the impossible – focus on your All Powerful God.
We cannot convert impossibility into possibility, but God can! Nothing is too hard for the Lord. Let’s start with the fact that He created the world. It’s so monstrously huge!
He would make Sarah able to conceive a child. This is one of the clutch stories in all the Bible. It’s a faith anchor – a reason to keep believing. God intervened in an impossible situation and he changed it. God had to make a way.
We see God do the impossible in spiritual situations. A person without Christ is dead in their sins. They are lights out and incapable of responding to the gospel. Only a miracle could make them see their need of God. Believe it, God brings life and thus, change.
You look at the world around us and see the need for revival. Doesn’t it seem so impossible at times? He can break the hold of drugs. He can fix marriages. He can bring wayward children around. He saves souls like the demon infested man with a legion of evil spirits. Even that guy!
Jesus was killed on a cross but rose three days later. What was more impossible than that? Bring your impossible situations to the Lord.
God can take us in our weakness and show his power through us. Paul learned that God’s grace was sufficient even in illness. God can change your life and do the impossible things.
- God Blesses Your Family (v.19)
v19 – Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
God would establish his covenant with Isaac. He would bless Isaac and build a nation through Him. God would do a special work through Isaac’s descendants and his grandchildren would become the 12 tribes of Israel. The Jewish nation is still in existence and God is still preserving them.
But let’s think about this “everlasting covenant”. Everlasting means that it continues on as it impacts Abraham’s descendants. Think of the impact of Abraham’s obedience on his descendants. You have no idea what the impact of our decisions will be on the future and how much impact we will have.
I love the idea of my life today leading to blessing for my children and their children. Future generations can be blessed in the future because of my obedience today.
My granddad McMinn went to church and I would say that it impacted his sons. His one son, my dad, went into ministry. His grandson, me, went into the pastorate. How would he know that his obedience to God would make such a difference on his family.
God blesses families via our obedience.
- God Can Bless Your Prayers
V20 – And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.
As for Ishmael, God hears you! God hears your prayers. I have heard you. I will make him fruitful. Why? Because of your prayers. He’s going to be blessed.
I’m glad that Abraham cares about Ishmael. Ishmael seems to get a bad rap in some ways, like he’s an outsider, or a bad boy somehow. He doesn’t get as much love. Yet his dad, Abraham, very much loved him.
God heard Abraham’s prayers and promised to bless Ishmael. The Arab nations descend from him. Islam traces back to Abraham through Ishmael and he is revered there. There’s a lot to think about here. God blesses those outside of our group and we need to acknowledge that. God blesses the world and God blesses others. Isn’t this a reminder that there should be love for outsiders? For the unchurched? Shouldn’t there be concern and prayer for the well-being of the county in which we live and those outside of our main hub of believers? We’ll get much farther in this world loving others than we will be by not praying.
Ishmael is not to possess the land of Canaan. Not the line through whom the Old Testament comes. Not the line through whom the Messiah comes. This will be Isaac. But Ishmael will be great.
What prayers are you making for your children? Your spouse? Your friends? Let’s pray for their spiritual well being. Let’s pray for our families and decisions and them following God.
How can God hear prayers we never ask? Let’s make sure that we are putting things out there for God to hear because that could decide the future of our children.
My dad was a man of prayer and he always prayed for his family. How do I know that part of why we have blessing is because he was a man of God and prayed for his children. His prayers would still resonate and have power long after he was gone, right. My mom too.
So we see that us living for the Lord can make a profound impact on our children and their children. God blessed our family as we pray. What’s more important than that?
- God Blesses in His Time (vv21-22)
Vv21-22 – But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.” 22 When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
By this time next year, God will bless you. It wasn’t when Abraham and Sarah wanted but it was when God thought best. This time next year. He makes all things beautiful in his own time. Next year is great but it’s still 25-26 years of waiting and that’s a long time.
I would encourage you to continue seeking God and being persistent with whatever it is that you’re doing. Whatever it is you’re waiting for, continue in patience!
- God Blesses Obedience
Vv23-27 – On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, 25 and his son Ishmael was thirteen; 26 Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that very day. 27 And every male in Abraham’s household, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him.
Let’s not forget that he had to “keep” the covenant in order to be blessed. The blessing was the result of obedience. And his obedience impacted his entire family as well. There were many in that group that Abraham was able to influence regarding faith.
Let’s think outside of the chance to influence only our family and think to influencing the community around us. What do you want that to look like?
I feel that if you can impact another family and lead them to a deeper walk with God, that can make an exponential difference for that particular family. They might impact even more people than you did.
I appreciate the good example that Abraham was for the other people and how he led them to obedience. How about our life and our example. Is it leading to better things? Is it leading to living for the Lord? Or is it leading to worldliness.
Abraham is making a stand and again, it’s profound. This is a man who has three major religions tracing their roots back to him. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. All come back to Abraham. I would say that his life of faith has been extremely profound. Wow! May our life of faith be equally powerful!