Genesis 17:15-18:21

Genesis 17:15-18:21

Even as God continues to lay out His covenant with Abraham, Abraham has trouble believing that it will actually happen. Once again, Abraham cannot get past the physical possibilities of him and Sarah actually conceiving a child at such an old age. You would think that in having a one-on-one, personal conversation with the Lord, Abraham would refrain from arguing about God’s capabilities. But should we really be surprised at Abraham’s unbelief? How many times do we find ourselves arguing in the face of God? We may not physically be speaking with the Lord, but we still have contact with our Lord today. He still leads us and shows us what to do in our lives each day. Yet, we too argue, try to do things our way, think that we know what is best for our lives. Like Abraham, there are many times when we laugh in the face of God.

But what is amazing is that despite our unwillingness to believe that the impossible can happen, God still comes through. When He makes a promise, He keeps His word, even if we try to interfere, even if we think we know what is best. That is what Abraham was doing when he tried to offer up Ishmael as a substitute to the covenant God had made. But God would not listen to Abraham. Instead, He did it His way and continued to promise Abraham that he and Sarah would soon bear a son, in one year, and his name would be Isaac.

It appears as if Abraham finally understood that God would not change His mind. It may have been years and decades since the covenant was first established, but Abraham now knew that God could be trusted. So he stepped out on faith and in obedience he circumcised all the men in his household just as God had commanded. This was the sign of obedience between Abraham and God, and it showed that Abraham was now ready to trust God to see Him through the next chapter of his life, the birth of his son.

As Genesis 18 begins, there can be some great confusion as to who these three men mentioned are. Instead of discussing my opinion on the matter here, you can check out a paper I wrote on this topic last semester by looking under November 2009 in “The Angel of the Lord” posts. Nevertheless, I do believe that in some way this is God that visits Abraham in the form of three men. Abraham is oblivious to the fact that he is once again speaking with the Lord, but he does not hesitate to bring his best before these visitors. I do not believe he recognizes who these men are until God starts inquiring about Sarah. Still, this scene shows that we must always be doing our best. For one, God is always with us, always watching, so we must be at our best anyways. But also, we never know who else might be watching and what they might see radiate out of our lives. Would they see Christ or something different?

What is interesting as this passage continues is Sarah’s reaction to God’s promise. Surely she knows about the covenant God had made with Abraham by now, but if she does, it does not appear as if she has ever truly believed it. For when God mentions that she will have a child within one year, she laughs. Just like Abraham, she laughs in the face of God out of disbelief. But when she is confronted on this issue, she flat out denies it. Why is it that we try to hide our sins? When we know that we are in the wrong, we tend to just try to skip over it or pretend like it never happened. But remember, God is always there, He sees it all, and we can never run from our sins and pretend like they never happened. It did not work for Sarah, for God called her out on it, and it will not work for us either.

As God leaves Abraham, He reiterates the promise that He had made. Despite all the “setbacks” that came along, God still plans on remaining faithful. He will surely deliver a son to Abraham, but first He has one more matter of business to take care of. Although Sodom had gone through one demoralizing defeat already, the city was still full of wickedness. What was worth was that Lot and his family still lived there. God had had enough of the unrighteousness that was coming out of that city. So His next stop would be Sodom, where He would deal with the sin problem (much like He did in the days of Noah).

Matt