Would you listen for the promise?

Between meals to cook, dishes to wash, and so many loads of laundry,

will you pause with me and listen for the promise?  (Today we're in Genesis 12-18:14.)

In the fertile land between the rivers, Terah lived with his sons, their wives, a grandson.  They were settled, but God spoke and said,

Go … and I will make of you a great nation 

and I will bless you and make your name great, 

so that you will be a blessing.  

I will bless those who bless you, 

and him who dishonors you I will curse, 

and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

And Abram went.  He heard the promise.

To your offspring I will give this land.

And Abram built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.

Through the packing and the traveling … the promise.
In days of famine and fear and so much wealth … the promise.
In choosing east and choosing west … the promise.

All the land that you see I will give to your offspring forever.

I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth,

so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted.

And there he built an altar to the Lord.

In worship, he believed the promise.
And through warring kings and a ransomed kinsman… the promise.
With a mysterious visitor … the promise.

Abram, I am your shield; your very great reward.

But I am still childless. What about this promise?  

There is no offspring to be my heir.

Abram, look to the heaven and number the stars, if you are able.

So shall your offspring be.

And Abram believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.

Abram listened to the promise.

And cut carcasses,
And birds of prey,
And sun going down,
And deep deep sleep,
And great great darkness,
And the voice of God.

Your offspring will be sojourners in a land not their own, afflicted for four hundred years.

But they will come out.

And you will go to your fathers in peace.  Peace.

And a smoking pot and flaming torch.
And a covenant.  A covenant promise.

To your offspring I give this land.

Through Sarai's doubts and doing it her way … the promise.
Though Hagar's abuse and Ishmael's birth … the promise.

And years and years and years and years.
And God spoke again.

Covenant,
And father of a nations,
And a new name,
And a multitude of nations.

And I will give to you and to your offspring the land of your sojournings,

for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.

And your wife shall now be called Sarah.

I will bless her.

And I will give you a son by her.

I will bless her, 

and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.

And through circumcision … the promise
And through angel visits … the promise.
And through laughter and old age,
And "Is anything too hard for the Lord?"

The promise.  Would you listen?  

Do you hear the promise?  The hope of an offspring who would bruise the head of the liar?  Who would be the ark? Who would restore mankind?  Do you hear the whisper?  Do you hear the promise?

What is God speaking to you through the story?

Is he calling you to leave the familiar?
Is he asking you to believe a promise that seems impossible?
Is he inviting you to worship him in faith, and in a new land?
Is he asking you to keep moving forward though the promise seems delayed?
Is he calling you to believe him though it just doesn't make sense?  

Please leave a comment naming one thing that God is speaking to you through this story.  And, if you'd like … one way that I can pray for you as you consider what it looks like to obey him today.  

You have joined us for Promise, a 25-day journey from creation to the cradle.  If you would like a Family Devotional Guide with questions to discuss around the dinner table, email me and I'll send it right out to you.  If you'd also like a template for ornaments to make "Jesse Tree," let me know that too.  My email address is cynthiafin@gmail.com.

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