Origins: The Promise (Genesis 12–25)Sample

By Pastor Dan Hickling

“But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.” Genesis 17:21 (NKJV)

What constitutes the “period” at the end of a sentence for you? What’s that thing which decisively, totally, completely, absolutely, definitively settles an issue for you? What eliminates and eradicates every and all trace of doubt about something? What puts the period on the sentence indicating it’s finished and done?

Before you answer, consider how many potential options are out there. For some of us, it’s the bottom line of a bank account. If the money is there, then that’s the ultimate security. We can cross concern off our list if we see a certain amount on the ledger. Or maybe some of us put so much stock in another person that we consider their word as the “be all, end all.” What about government, technology, pleasure, achievement, etc.? 

That proverbial period to the sentence, that absolute and unshakable trust, can be placed in so many things. Yet they will all prove to be faulty and flawed, except one; the one thing we see before us in the passage above, the Word of God.

In context, God is reaffirming His promise to Abraham that He will bless him with a son by his wife, Sarah (Genesis 17:16). This was quite a promise, because at this stage in their advanced lives, conception was pretty much out of the question for Sarah, especially when you consider she was barren during her youthful years. 

Abraham did have another son, Ishmael, by Hagar. In fact, Abraham even mentions him as possibly being the solution for the apparent dilemma (Genesis 17:18). But God wouldn’t have it. He doubles-down, if you will, by repeating that Sarah would bear a son and it’s such a reality to God that He instructs them on what to name him, Isaac (Genesis 17:19)!    

Here we see God reaffirming all of this. Despite the improbability of the surrounding circumstances, God says, “This is going to happen!” For Abraham, and all of us, this is the proverbial period to the sentence. When God declares something, there can be nothing more authoritative, definitive, or trustworthy for us. It is a future event described in the past tense, it is done before it happens, it is as sure as the eternal One who utters it.

As the world around us settles for trusting in lesser things, may our lives be increasingly defined by being settled and secure in the Word of the Lord . . . period!

DIG: What was the significance of the promise above?

DISCOVER: What’s worthy of all trust?

DO: What hinders your trust in God’s Word? Ask the Lord to help you change in this area.