“Speaking Faith In A difficult Time” Genesis 22

There are many hero’s of faith in the scriptures that  we could look at and admire them for their faith.

1.We have Noah 

2. We have Moses

3. We have Esther

But for this time of reasoning in God’s word, I’d like to focus in on father Abraham. I call him father Abraham b/c Romans 4:11-16 lets us know he is called the father of all those who believe and we are Abraham’s seed.

Abraham’s faith journey began in Genesis 12. It is in Genesis chapter 12 that great faith is excised at the obedience of one spoken word. The Lord spoke to Abraham, and told him to pack up and leave your country. Not just leave your country, but leave your people and your fathers household and go to the land I will show you.

      Notice if you will that in verse12  of Genesis 12, God’s promise to Abraham has a sevenfold structure: 1. I will make you into a great nation, 2. I will bless you, 3. I will make your name great, 4. you will be a blessing, 5. I will bless those who bless you, 6. whoever curses you I will curse, and 7. all the people on the earth will be blessed through you.

Now out of obedience, Abraham, left as the Lord Told him. You have to  picture this whole scene in your mind. Your 75 years old, your bones are old and aching. You can’t see like you use to. You can’t get around like you use to, but at the word of your Father your willing do what he said.

Check this out – Abraham did not know where he was going. He had blind faith. Blind directions. And blind people traveling with him. B/c if he didn’t know where he was going, surly they didn’t know either.

So Father Abraham took his wife Sarah, his nephew Lot, all their possession and the people they acquired.

Understand that as we continue to walk in God, we will discover that sometime God, will allow and even orchestrate events, circumstances within our lives, only to position us so that we are forced to live by faith.

Sometimes God wants to see do we really trust Him. Do we really believe Him. When we are unaware of a divine orchestrated move of God, we many of times will curse our crises. When our crises has not come to take us under, but to take us up

So now when we get to verses 16 in chapter 12, it’s there that we see the blessings of the Lord rolling in as God promised Abraham in verses 2-3.

But in chapter 13, verses 14-16 another promise is made to father Abraham. It says: “ And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: 15. For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. 16. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. You have to be a good one to be able to number the dust of the earth. Dust is like sand, and no one in their right mind is going to sit and count the grinds of sand on a beach, b/c it’s to much. This is what the Lord was telling Abraham, your seed is going to be so numerous that you wont be able to count them. I’m going to make you into such a great nation and large nation, that after your eyes are closed and you’ve entered into MY Glory, your seed will still be multiplying. Many years had come and gone, but the full promise had yet to come to past. Where is the child that God promised Abraham and Sarah? Where is the great nation God promised Abraham would father? Where is the land God promised to give Abraham and his descendants?  In chapter 15 Abraham has a great concern about a child. It is the desire of every man to have a son. A son that can carry on his name and legacy. It makes a man feel good to know he has a son from his own seed. Abraham looked at his old age and said, you’ve given me no son, so I’ll take one of my servants in my household. Back during this time if a man did not have a child, he could adopt one of his male servants to be an heir and guardian of his estate. The Lord spoke to Abraham and told him, that the male servant you choose will not be an heir. Why? b/c a son coming from your own seed will be your heir. In other words, Abraham a son is coming from your seed. I’m going to bless you even in your old age with a son. A miracle son. Now in Chapter 16 impatience is on the move. One of the biggest problems we have in life and in our Christian walk, is patience. We want everything quick. We want everything fast. The world is the same way. Everything has upgraded to the fast world.

Some time had passed from Genesis 15:4 and Genesis 16:3. Sarah, the wife of Abraham is now challenging the promise of God. How often is it that we as the people of God, do the same thing. If God, doesn’t move by the time we think He should, we will question if it was God. Then we will try to make it happen in our own strength. So Sarah tells Abraham, I know that God said we would have a child, but He has left me childless, barren and a shame.  She felt a shame b/c during this time, if a woman didn’t bare a child, she was considered a curse in the eyes of the people. You have to understand her hurt, but not to the point of mixing your hands in the promise of God.

Sarah wants to take it to the next level, by giving her husband the maid servant. In other words: God has done anything yet, so I’m going to help Him. But you have to be careful, about helping God, b/c He has away of turning your help into a headache. Into a pool of trouble.

(Example) God promised that he was going to bless you with a car, but a year has gone by and the car still hasn’t come. He already told you to wait on Him, but we get tired of waiting so we push it with our own hands. We go to the car lot and see the car we want, but we hear the Lord saying that’s not the one. But b/c we don’t want to wait any longer, we purchase the car. God has away of waiting you out before He allow the bottom to fall out.  The first few months all is well with the car. One day you go out and your riding along, and you notice a problem. The water hose has a leek. Then the engine has a problem. Then the tires wont hold air and you have to keep getting new tires. You become frustrated about the car and stressed about the whole thing. I just believe that stress doesn’t come with a blessing from God. The bible says the Blessings of God maketh rich and addeth no sorrow to your life.

Sarah gave Abraham her maidservant and Abraham slept with Hagar. The bible says that she conceived and gave birth to a baby boy and they named him Ishmael.

Understand that even after you push and make your own blessing come about, you still wont be happy until the spoken promise come to pass. Your hand made blessing cannot compare to the divine blessing.

But even after all of this the Lord still promised to bless Abraham. So he comes in Chapter 17 only to confirm his promise. Years after God made a covenant with Abram, He came back to confirm what he promised. How many of you know that sometime we just need to be reminded that God has not forgotten what he has promised.

Here Abraham is 99 and God appeared to him saying: I Am God Almighty (EL SHADDAI); walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers. The bible shares with us that Abram fell on his face in reverent fear and worship of God. Then God laid out the terms and promise of the covenant between them. God said: as for me, this is my covenant with you: you will be the fathers of many nations. No longer will your name be Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father to many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you. All of this was just confirmation of what the Lord already told I him in chapters before. In verses 1-8 in chapter 17 God confirmed three specific covenant promises. 1. Abram was to be the father of many nations, a confirmation of God’s promise to multiply his seed as the dust of the earth in chapter 13:16 and as the stars of the heaven in chapter 15:5. 2. God promised to be Abrams God  and the God of his descendants. 3. God promised to give Abram and his seed the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession. In the old testament when two families entered into a blood covenant, they each took one another’s name as a testimony forever that they were one. In this covenant relationship, not only did God promise to be Abrams God and the God of his descendants, He took Abrams name as a testimony of His covenant relationship with him. That’s the reason in the scriptures you hear God referred to himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Can God take on your name?

In doing this, God was signifying that He had become covenant partners with Abraham and that Abraham’s family and his descendants had become His family. God was signifying that His strength, His power, His glory had become Abraham’s.

So God gave Abraham and Sarah new names signifying their new relationship under this blood covenant. Remember once again that with every promise there is a condition. God not only laid out the covenant blessings, but He also laid out the terms of this covenant that Abraham was to keep.  God told him: as for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you. The covenant you are to keep: every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.