Do it

DEVOTION

GENESIS

DO IT

Gen 17:23-27

23 On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, 25 and his son Ishmael was thirteen; 26 Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that same day. 27 And every male in Abraham's household, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him.

NIV

This was no easy task nor was it a pleasant experience. We already know that Abraham had three hundred and eighty trained men. We do not know how many untrained men were in his service. So to do this which the Lord commanded of him was a very big undertaking, not to mention an unsafe situation for his household. When we think about every male being circumcised and how that effects them insofar as their physical abilities, we know the whole camp, the whole of all the men were not able to do much for some time. We have to think about the time of Hamor and his son Shechem. The Israelites made them get circumcised in a trick about allowing Shechem to have one of their sisters, but after three days of still being in pain, two of the brothers of this sister attacked the city and killed every male. So Abraham and all his men had to be in this kind of pain for several days as well, which certainly put the family/clan in danger from outside attacks. Just as a side note it is interesting that we should know who are the true descendants of Abraham and Ishmael as well as Isaac by whether men are circumcised or not. However in this country, in most recent years it has been a medical practice rather than a spiritual one. But the truth here for us in not in the practice of circumcision, but in the practice of obedience even though it might be painful. Certainly circumcision was physically painful, but what we are seeing in being obedient to God may not be physically painful, but emotionally or even spiritually painful. If God tells us to do something we are uncomfortable doing, it might cause some emotional turmoil within. If God asks us to move, it might be painful to give up all we have. If he tells us to stay, when we desire to move, it could bring unrest in our being. If he tells us to witness to someone, and we are slow of speech, or nervous about saying anything about Jesus to that person, we struggle within. There are all sorts of scenarios we could explore, but the point is when God told Abraham to do this, he did it, not questions asked, even if it was going to be painful for him and every man in his household. However, as we have seen before, this whole idea reveals how painful it can be to circumcise our hearts before God. When God tells us to do, we do. When God tells us something not to do, we do not do. When God tells us to expose our heart to him, so he can change it, we do it, no questions asked. Abraham demonstrated having faith in God by being obedient. Can we do any less? If we say we have faith in God, then should we not also be obedient, even if it might cause some pain? The point is when God speaks, we do it. He has already spoken throughout the whole of scripture and we have his words to us. There is much within his word which we still have to obey. We fail at times to obey that which we already know we should do, or not to do, but we also know it is our desire to do that which is right, we are just not perfect at it yet. But still God also speaks to us personally through the Spirit directing our lives, calling us to a particular service, or to a particular place in order that we might fulfill his purpose in us, for us and through us. Our duty is to listen and obey, whenever and however God speaks to us, we just need to do it.