A WORD FOR TODAY, October 24, 2025
Peggy Hoppes
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Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, October 24, 2025
“Trust in Yahweh, and do good. Dwell in the land, and enjoy safe pasture. Also delight yourself in Yahweh, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to Yahweh. Trust also in him, and he will do this: he will make your righteousness shine out like light, and your justice as the noon day sun. Rest in Yahweh, and wait patiently for him.” Psalm 37:3-7a, WEB
Abram was a pagan. He believed in the local gods of Ur, the gods of his fathers. Though God had made an appearance in the pages before chapter twelve of Genesis, He was not known beyond a few key people. He had personal relationships with Adam and Eve, and with Noah, but the world followed other gods. Then, in chapter twelve, Abram was called by God into something new. God sent him out of his country to an unknown place. Abram followed, but even at that moment he didn’t know where he was going or even who he was following. God made the promise that Abram would be made into a great nation. He didn’t know how to be obedient to this strange new God, so he did not always act as God expected.
Yet, God remained faithful. In Genesis 15, God appeared to Abram again and reminded him of His promise. “But God...” Abram said. Abram didn’t understand how he would ever become a great nation when he didn’t even have a single child. He was already seventy-five years old when God first called him. His wife Sarai was ten years younger, but she was barren. What hope did they have to have children? Still, God renewed the promise and made a covenant with Abram. Sarai and Abram decided they needed to help God fulfill His promise, so Sarai gave Abram to her servant Hagar. Abram was eighty-six years old, and the child Ishmael seemed to be the answer to their prayers. As Sarai’s servant, Hagar’s child was Sarai’s property. This wasn’t what God intended.
Yet, God remained faithful. When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram again to renew His promise. Genesis 17 is a turning point not only for Abram and Sarai, but also for God’s relationship with the world He created. He made another covenant with Abram, one that included a sign: circumcision. At that moment, God also changed the names of Abram and Sarai. From that moment on, they would be called Abraham and Sarah. Abraham went from “exalted father” to “father of a multitude.” Sarah went from “princess” to “mother of nations.” There is something else about this name change that means something important: the addition of the “h,” which is the letter “hey” in Hebrew. Besides being a letter, the word “hey” can mean “breath”. God did not just change Abraham and Sarah’s name; He breathed on them. He changed them. It was a moment when the lives of Abraham and Sarah were changed, a moment when the future of God’s world was sent in a new direction, the way He had planned it to go. Of course, Abraham was not always faithful, but God is always faithful even when we fail.
The promised son, Isaac, was finally born to Abraham and Sarah when he was one hundred and she was ninety. He was the son of the promise, the one conceived after the covenantal promise with the sign of circumcision. He was the son who would take God’s plan into the future. Like every human being after the fall, Isaac was not perfect. He was not always faithful, but God always is.
We look to Abraham as an example of God’s incredible grace. God has made us promises, too. He has made a covenant with us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Our turning point does not come when God changes our name or during the ancient ritual of circumcision. He breathes on us at the baptismal font, taking us as His own and changing our future into what He intends it to be. We, like Abraham, will fail to be faithful, but He is always faithful. He calls us out of our old life into something new. He reminds us of His promises over and over again. He makes us new by His grace. He sometimes seems far away, or takes too much time to fulfill His promises, so we are tempted to take matters into our own hands. The story of Abraham reminds us to be patient, because God will be faithful according to His Word.
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