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Genesis 3: 7-9
When Abram prostrated himself, God spoke to him:
“My covenant with you is this:
you are to become the father of a host of nations.
No longer shall you be called Abram;
your name shall be Abraham,
for I am making you the father of a host of nations.
I will render you exceedingly fertile;
I will make nations of you;
kings shall stem from you.
I will maintain my covenant with you
and your descendants after you
throughout the ages as an everlasting pact,
to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
I will give to you
and to your descendants after you
the land in which you are now staying,
the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession;
and I will be their God.”
God also said to Abraham:
“On your part, you and your descendants after you
must keep my covenant throughout the ages.”
The Word of the Lord.
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We believe in the God of the impossible. Throughout scripture, the Lord works wonders, making us believe that anything can happen.
In our first reading, for example, the Lord promises Abraham that he will make him a father of nations, whose descendants shall be as numberless as the stars.
While that sounds amazing, there’s one problem the Lord must solve first: Abraham’s one-hundred years old…and his wife, Sara, is ninety. Making matters worse, she’s barren.
When God tells Abraham not to worry – that Sara will indeed conceive – Abraham literally breaks out in laughter. It just seems too impossible.
But, again, we believe in a God who does the impossible.
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Sara not only conceives her first-born son, Isaac (whose name means “laughter” in Hebrew, recalling Abraham’s doubt), Abraham also became the father to a “host of nations.”
Today, more than half the world – nearly four billion people – consider Abraham their father in faith.
That’s four-billion proofs of a promise kept.
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We call upon the same God today.
Whether we’re in need of something great – like our physical health to return, the promise of a child, or a new door to open – or something small like enough grace to be patient with others, the same God who changed Abraham’s life can change ours.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock,” Jesus says. “If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20).
Unlike Abraham, who laughed at God’s promise, may we accept them in faith.
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Image credits: (1) Rivers Church (2) All Saints North Epping (3) Slide Player