Abraham/Joseph Week 3 Day 2

Hagar returned home to her life as a handmaid to Sarai.  She bore her son ... and Abram named him Ishmael, evidently believing her about her encounter with God.  Thirteen years pass ... living life ... Abram managing his affairs ... getting older ... Sarai getting older.  I suspect she quit watching each month ... hoping that the expected period would not occur ... her time was over. 

Read Genesis 17.

So many interesting things to note from this chapter ...

1.  In verse 1 - the Lord appeared to Abram.  How?  Was it a vision?  Did He appear in bodily form?  When the meeting was over we learn in verse 22 that "God went up from him"  So I think God must have appeared bodily to Abram.  We don't know but God appeared and He spoke.  He calls Himself, "God Almighty".  This is the Hebrew "El Shaddai" that Amy Grant made familiar to many of us through her song of the same name years ago.  This name stresses God's omnipotence. The root of the Hebrew is the word shad which means the female breast.  All of the images of nourishment, comfort, security seem to be wrapped up in this name.  To a baby, the mother is all-powerful and all-necessary.  Think of God as your El Shaddai today.

2.  God changes Abram's name ... and Sarai's name.  (verses 4 and 15)
Some scholars have noted that God adds a "h" to the names of both Abram and Sarai.  That "h" signifies the sound of breath.  Listen to James Boice: 

"We have the Hebrew word ruah, which means both 'breath' and 'spirit' and which cannot even be pronounced properly unless you breathe out.  Ruah.  It is the sound of a breath.  So when God called Abram, Abraham, what He was really doing was adding His mighty breath or Spirit to Abram's name.  ... If that is right, God was joining His name to Abram's.  Abram, the human 'father of many,' becomes Abraham - 'Abram plus Jehovah, the mighty God.'"

Can you hear Jesus promising His Spirit to live within the believer - joined with?  (John 14)  We, too, do not have to walk with God in our own strength.  We, like Abraham, can join ourselves to God and have His very life breath flow through us.  In fact, my friends, if you are walking with your El Shaddai, believing Him, there is a "h" added to your name!  I respond like Abraham ... and fall face down. 
 
3.  God is ready to confirm His covenant with Abraham and He does so through the sign of circumcision.  Instructions are given to Abraham.  Some commentators address the health issues that perhaps were part of the reason.  But there has too much emphasis on the "seed" of Abraham.  This covenant has so much to do with the descendants.  Circumcision is a mark in the very flesh of the man.  A mark closest to the passing on of the seed of man.  A personal mark.  A private mark.  It would be confirmation to the wife that her husband was bound to Jehovah God.  It would be a mark to the man himself that he is forever bound to his God.  And don't you love verse 23 - "On that very day ..."  Abraham's obedience did not wait for convenience or further explanation.  God spoke to him ... and he obeyed God.  On that very day ...

Join me on your knees (or perhaps face down!) as I pray ...

          El Shaddai, I worship You in Your holiness.  You are the God of faithfulness and covenant.  You are the God who keeps promises and never forgets.  I so long to walk before You in faithfulness ... help us Lord do just that.  Give us, through Your Spirit, the heart to hear You and the courage to obey.