I Hear You

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

I HEAR YOU

Gen 17:15-27

15 God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her." 17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?" 18 And Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!" 19 Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year." 22 When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him. 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

Just as the LORD God Almighty, whose name is JHHW, put his middle letter in Abram's name, changing it to Abraham, he now adds a letter to Sarai's name, changing it to Sarah. This change was part of the conversation the LORD had with Abraham as he came down to make a covenant with him: the covenant that included circumcision. The LORD told Abraham that he and Sarah would have a son, and that he should name him Isaac. That is a very specific revelation, including instructions. We do not know whether Abraham laughed out loud, but we can be sure the LORD knew he was laughing at both his age and his wife's age. Certainly, in the natural realm, Sarah, who had been barren all her life, now at ninety would conceive a son, seemed outlandish, almost unbelievable. Abraham seems to have struggled to believe, because he asked God whether Ishmael, his son, could be the one blessed. Interestingly, when Abraham asked about Ishmael, the LORD told him, "I have heard you," and blessed Ishmael so that he would father twelve tribes of people, but they would always struggle against the sons of Israel. Could we say it is all Abraham's fault for the everlasting conflict in the Middle East? However, today's lesson is in those words of the LORD: "I have heard you," and in the fact that when God finished speaking with Abraham, he went up from him. This gives us two wonderful truths. First, God visited Abraham; he came down to be present with him, and second, he spoke with him and listened to what Abraham had to say. God hears us also; he hears what we have to say. He loves us and wants to listen to our concerns,  our pains, our requests, what is on our hearts. But he also wants to visit with us, speak into our ears and hearts, and instruct us in his plan, just as he instructed Abraham that he and Sarah would have a son, and that they were to name him Isaac. God wants to speak to us; he wants to reveal truths to us; he wants to instruct us in the way we should go, what we should do, and how we are to do it. Although God heard Abraham, it was more important that Abraham heard God. We should learn to use our ears more than our mouths; we praise him with our lips, but sometimes we need to be still, be quiet, and listen, because God is speaking. That is when we need to say, "I hear you."