Promise KeeperPromise Keeper
Text: Genesis 17:1-22 8 March 2009
“But you promised!” the children exclaim whenever we forget a pledge that we made to them. Whether it was a splash in the pool or a walk in the park, once promised we cannot go back on our word. We have learned to preface our words with ‘if’, ‘might’, ‘maybe’, or ‘we’ll see’.
If a politician makes a promise to lower your taxes, raise employment, and reduce crime levels, do you believe that they will keep their word? If your doctor makes a promise to refer you to a consultant, do you trust that she will follow through? If a husband sits in a crumpled heap, head in hands weeping, pleading for forgiveness and promises never to raise his hand again, is he to be trusted?
When someone makes a promise we take several things into consideration. Who is it that makes the promise? Have they been true to their word in the past? Are they reliable or have they repeatedly let us down?
What about the promises of God? Do we trust his promise to forgive those who own up to their sin? Do we believe that he will never leave us or forsake us? Do we believe that he always answers prayer? Are we certain of his promise not only to forgive sin but to give us life that never ends?
There are times in our faith journey when we give a resounding ‘Yes!’ We sing with gusto the old Gospel song
Standing on the promises of Christ, my King!
Through eternal ages let His praises ring.
“Glory in the highest!” I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God.
Chorus:
Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises of God, my Saviour;
Standing, standing,
I’m standing on the promises of God.
Then our faith is shaken to the core. Doubt creeps in. It may have been a loved one cruelly taken from us in tragic circumstances; a marriage torn apart at the seems by illness and conflict; children who have gone off the rails; a redundancy which gives way to long term unemployment and a sense of uselessness. On the anvil of life pain hammers away in an attempt to break our trust in God’s faithfulness. We may find that we cannot open our Bibles, whisper a prayer or join with others gathered for worship.
Is it possible to be a Christian and doubt? Can it be that where we once stood upon the solid promises of God there is nothing but the quicksand of disbelief and despair dragging us down?
There was nothing feeble about Abraham’s faith. He struck out from his home country but had no idea where he was going. The destination of his journey was a complete mystery to him. All he knew was that God had told him to go and would show him the way. His neighbours thought he was acting on a ‘wing and a prayer’. Yet Abraham trusted that God would bless him. God would make him a great nation and a great name. God would bless the whole world through him. The God who had called the world into being was calling a people into existence. God had chosen Noah to create an ark of safety for those who would turn to him and escape the flood. Now God chose Abraham to father a community that would bring salvation to a sin-sick world.
When Abraham was confronted by the might of Egypt and the power of Pharaoh, he hatched a plan of self-preservation. Sarah was so beautiful that Abraham thought Pharaoh would kill him in order to gain his wife. Abraham passed Sarah off as his sister. Pharaoh took Sarah as his wife and was plagued by God. Pharaoh was outraged to learn that Abraham had pulled the wool over his eyes. Pharaoh sent him packing.
Despite this low point in his faith journey, God blessed Abraham. Abraham had prospered with large herds. So much so that he and his nephew had to part ways in order to find enough land to support their animals and reduce friction between their servants. Then when Abraham was faced with the capture of his nephew Lot, God blessed him with a military victory over the marauding king.
Prosperity and victory left Abraham feeling empty. Sure, God had blessed him, yet what about an heir? How could he be a great nation? How was it possible for his name to be great? How on earth could he be a blessing to the whole world? How could it be that he would have descendents as numerous as the stars? He couldn’t produce one child! He and Sarah were getting on in years. Abraham’s faith wavered. Would God keep his promise or not?
Sarah schemed and Abraham colluded with her in forcing the hand of God. Abraham produced a child Ishmael through Sarah’s slave Hagar. Domestic tensions escalate. Hagar runs away and returns and then is finally expulsed from the home. Such tragedy!
Will God keep his promise to Abraham? Is he able to keep his promise? In Genesis 17:1 God reveals his name: I am God Almighty, El Shaddai. In his name he reveals his power to give descendents. The God whose powerful Word created all that exists out of nothing is the same God who creates life where there is barrenness.
Not only does he reveal his own name but he also gives Abram and Sarai new names: Abraham and Sarah. Their news names do not radically differ in meaning from their old names. With new names they participate in the creating of a new nation.
God calls Abraham to enter into a covenant relationship. “...Walk before me, and be blameless...” The holy life is the whole of our lives lived in the presence of God. Holiness is a journey. It is a pilgrimage. The holy life does not mean that we will not have moments of doubt. The holy life does not mean that we will always get it right. The holy life means that we are facing in God’s direction. The holy life means that when we stumble and fall...when we sin and get it wrong...we recognise our failure and turn again to trusting in God and doing what is right.
The promise to Abraham of a great name, numerous descendents, and a land was impossible in human terms. Yet the God of the impossible makes a covenant with Abraham which is everlasting. The covenant is not only for Abraham but for his offspring and the entire world. God’s desire is to be in relationship with humanity. As Christians, we see in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ the fulfilment of God’s promise to Abraham. God is eternal and has the whole picture in focus. He has the power to bring about his purposes.
The sign of the covenant with Abraham was the circumcision of all males including slaves. Circumcision was an outward mark expressing the inward relationship that they had with God (Jeremiah 4:4; Ezekiel 44:7, 9). A relationship with God is both about knowing God’s will for our lives and putting it into practice. Circumcision is a sign of the covenant that the people are to “...love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deut. 6:5). Anyone who does not cut off the foreskin is to be cut off from the community. Abraham’s immediately carries out the task of having all the males in his household circumcised. He responds to the word of the covenant in obedience.
For Christians, baptism is a sign of the covenant. It is a physical cleansing that reflects an inward cleansing. It is about God making his promise to be our God. It is about us committing ourselves to be his people and to love him with our whole beings.
Both circumcision and baptism alike run the risk of becoming empty rituals. As Christians, this risk does not mean we should not be baptised. Rather, we are to keep a firm grasp on the reality that the cleansing of baptism reflects what happens within our hearts, minds, and actions.
After Abraham received the promise of God’s covenant, God gives Sarah a new name and promises once again that she will bear a son. Through her off-spring she will create nations and kings of nations.
Abraham chuckles. His inward laughter questions that a child could be born to a barren, elderly couple. Abraham is in doubting mode again. Thinking that God must have made some mistake he says, “O that Ishmael may live in your sight!” Abraham does not realise that God’s saving purpose to save humanity cannot come through human effort - through Ishmael. It is only through the creation of a life in the place where no life is found. It is only in birthing a baby that in human terms should never be born. It is only through the gracious action of God that salvation comes.
God firmly rejects Abraham’s suggestion of Ishmael and affirms that Sarah will give birth to a son at this season next year whose name will be Isaac. The covenant will be kept. The promise will unfold in fulfilment.
There is irony in Abraham and Sarah’s laughing. The laugh of disbelief points to the birth of the child whose name means ‘he laughs’. But it’s God who has the last laugh.
As God kept his promise to believing and doubting Abraham so he keeps his word to us even when it seems impossible. We trust God’s promises. But then something happens and our faith wavers. It is a normal part of the life of faith to have our doubts. Sometimes, out of fear, we try to help God along through our own conniving efforts. Yet God always brings us back to the place where we have to depend completely and utterly on his grace.
David and Helen Runcie had three boys. They were a happy family who shared a love of music and singing. They toured churches especially in the north of Scotland singing the praise of God. Things went horribly wrong as the boys began to use drugs. Soon they were hardened heroine addicts. Both David and Helen were devastated and could not understand what was happening. Their faith in God was tested through years of chaotic behaviour. Why wasn’t God answering their prayers? Then, one by one, their sons enrolled in the Christian Teen Challenge program. One by one they turned their lives over to Jesus Christ. One by one they discovered freedom from the bondage of their heroine habit. On the 17 May 2003, their two youngest sons, Matthew and Jonathan were baptised at Bethesda Evangelical Church in Fraserburgh. Their parents David and Helen sang a duet that expressed the faith journey they had been on through times of doubting and learning to trust God’s promises:
I’ve had many tears and sorrows, I’ve had questions for tomorrow,
There have been times I didn’t know right from wrong.
But in every situation, God gave blessed consolation,
That my trials come to only make me strong....
Through it all, through it all,
I have learned to trust in Jesus,
I have learned to trust in God.
Through it all, through it all,
I’ve learned to depend upon His Word.
It’s OK to have doubts. It’s OK to go through times when we can’t see God and don’t understand his purposes. As with Abraham and the Runcies, God takes us through the uncertainties to the place of deeper trust. God is the great Promise Keeper. His word is certain and sure. |
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