The GT Weekend! ~ Shofar, Week 3
December 12, 2017
Believe,Brave,Character,Courage,Digging Deeper,Faith,God,Hope,Life,Ordinary,Power,Purpose,Trust
Discover the original intent of Scripture. Make good application to our everyday lives.
Become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!
Genesis 17:15-21
And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” 19 God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”
The Original Intent
1) What blessings does God say He “will” give in this passage?
There are five specific promises that God makes in this passage and He reiterates those promises throughout the passage.
God promises that He will bless Sarah on two separate occasions.
He promises He will give them a son.
He promises she will become nations.
He promises that kings of people will come from Sarah.
Lastly, God promises He will establish His covenant with Abraham and Isaac.
The Everyday Application
1) What blessings does God say He “will” give in this passage?
As we read this passage, it is a reminder to us that God is a God of promises. He gives promises from His consistent character, promises of forgiveness, promises of reconciliation, and most importantly the promise of hope with the seal of the Holy Spirit who will guide and keep us until the day Christ returns.
We have the promise of the rest of the story. We, as believers, know how the love story between God and His people ends. The promise of eternal life fulfilled and the battle of sin and death conquered once and for all.
He HAS, He DOES, He WILL!
The Original Intent
2) What is Abraham’s reaction to God’s promises?
Initially Abraham falls on his face and laughs at the promises of God and then he questions God.
His laughter is more about the biological impossibly of bearing children at such an old age, but Abraham also seems to think that God must be confused about a new son. Abraham believes God must be referencing Ishmael.
The Everyday Application
2) What is Abraham’s reaction to God’s promises?
I can’t give Abraham too hard of a time for his response because it is like looking in a mirror.
How many times have I laughed, snickered, questioned, or even denied the promise that God has given me? How often do I fall back and trust my emotions or racing thoughts of my circumstance rather than trusting in what I know to be true?
Trusting in the promise that God may not always take the circumstance or situation away, or answer the prayer just as I want, but instead cling to the promise that “all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord” (Romans 8:28) or God’s promise that “He has made everything beautiful in its time.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
Trusting in truth that brings me to my knees before my Savior and King tempers my human inclination to react and respond in ways that are in opposition to the Holy Spirit that lives within me.
The Original Intent
3) What correction does God offer Abraham about how He will fulfill His promise?
In verse 18, Abraham references Ishmael as the one God must be talking about when referencing a son. God corrects Abraham and points him towards another son, a new son with his wife Sarah, whom God will make the covenant.
The Everyday Application
3) What correction does God offer Abraham about how He will fulfill His promise?
Even when we stray with our words or actions, God offers correction and grace. When Abraham laughed and questioned God, He did not banish him but rather corrected him. He provided the truth of the situation so that Abraham understood. God does the same with us.
He provides truth in His Word to help us better understand Him, His character, and His promises!
Tags :
courage,hope,inheritance,love,purpose,reliance,trust,Truth
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Eve, Day 6 Journey Study
Sarah, a woman that spent her life craving a child to her core, was now a mama, and had someone to call her own.
Abraham, a proud papa, had someone that he could show the ropes too; someone from his own seed to carry on his legacy. Isaac was the lynchpin in God’s promise to make Abraham the father of many nations. With Isaac, Abraham had it all.
And then one day,
in one moment,
with one command,
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I really needed to read this right now. I am facing a difficult situation in my life, with a close family member being extremely ill and in hospital, I am going to turn it around and remain in God’s promises. He can heal, He is all-powerful, He knows our suffering and in the end, I will be together again with my loved one in His heaven.
Praying for you right now, Lisa.
It is so dark sometimes, but He is steadfast.
Thank you for taking a well-known story and shedding some new light on it. It is true that so often we misinterpret the promises of God, not allowing Him to fully show us what He has for us.
What He has will always be better than we think up anyways. Thanks for chiming in!
I have been learning to listen to God and believe the outrageous promises He makes. He blows my mind sometimes.
So true! I think this is a life long learning process–God is always teaching and shaping us to look more like Him and revealing more of Himself!
I admit that there are times that I have been in disbelief of what God has promised me or brought me to. I have second guessed His decisions because I thought I wasn’t capable of what He was offering. In reality that is true. I’m not capable. But He is. Philippians 4:13!
Conviction and sweet grace!
God is a God of promises! I’m clinging to this truth today..because like Sarai, I have laughed at what God was leading me to.
So convicting!
And what a promise to cling to….He is faithful and He is true!
The first thing that comes to my mind is that God can & will do all things according to his will, we need only to trust him.
Absolutely!
We are allowed to be honest with God. The closest people to God were blunt with Him–Moses, Abraham, Elijah, Job, etc.
This is so true!