September 6 – Isaac

September 6 – Isaac
Genesis 17:15-18; 21:1-7

You know, after reading through the genealogies in Genesis, having a son at the age of 99 years shouldn’t have been such a big deal.  Abraham could face being circumcised at that age in order to confirm the covenant. He trusted God with all of that, yet laughed out loud when God told him that Sarah and he would have a child.

(Just as an aside – if you read Genesis 17:17, you find the first time that ROFL would have been used. Abraham fell facedown and laughed.)

Back to the story.  It’s so easy for us to believe God will handle the big things.  For Abraham, he was willing to believe that God was giving him a home in Canaan, would make him a father of many nations, would increase his numbers, and would establish kingdoms with his descendants (Genesis 17:3-8); yet giving him a son through Sarah? How could that possibly happen?

We put such incredible limitations on God. We want him to heal cancer, but choose not to bother him with potty training a child.  If it’s humanly possible, we want to do it ourselves and think we are bound by our own limitations.

Abraham’s reaction is exactly like that.  Sarah was old and had never been able to bear a child.  It wasn’t like they hadn’t tried.  But, since Abraham and Sarah couldn’t do it, why would they expect God to actually make it happen.

Turning over to Genesis 21, we read that Isaac was born and his name means laughter.  Abraham gave him the name and Sarah recognized that she’d been given a gift; not only a child, but laughter and joy as well.

The little things means as much to us in our relationship with God as do the great big out of control things. You wouldn’t ask your sister to loan you a huge amount of money and then not trust her to help you plan a Christmas party.  She would choose to be there for every part of your life.

God made a covenant with Abraham and then reminded him that not only was he there for the big things, but the little things that meant so much to Abraham in his every day life.