Shalom Dear Brothers and Sisters A New Name God had already made a covenant with Abram in Genesis 15, concerning an heir of his own and what their lineage would be. Yet as I read on in Chapter 17 God appears to Abram again. Only this time He declares, "I Am Almighty God"! Abram falls on his face and this time God tells him his name shall now be called Abraham and it is with his descendents that He will make His covenants with. He tells him Sari name will be changed to Sarah and she herself will give birth to a child and the child's name will be called Isaac. What I really appreciate about this is that even though in the previous chapter Abraham and Sarah decide to help out God themselves by getting Haggar involved God does not get angry. Instead he says to Abraham that he too will be a great nation and have twelve princes. There is no historical evidence of who these are that I have found yet but that's not what's important. Abraham was concerned for Ishmael and God could have been angry or a least displeased with Abraham and Sarah's actions. It gave me pause to think of how many times I too have rushed ahead wanting to help God out with His plan is at different times. I marveled at the patience and grace our wonderful God has for us. How He understands us in all our weaknesses. No matter how much we think we have messed up there truly is nothing that can separate us from the love of God, Romans 8:39. I think this is a very good example of this Scripture. Even when we run ahead and try and help God out He steps in and graciously blesses us! Even to the point of blessing our blunders. The only thing Almighty God did say to Abraham was to "walk uprightly before Him". This is what He asks of all of us. He doesn't ask for perfection just our best efforts. To be conscious of the fact that His Eyes are always on us and we should be walking with that knowledge continuously. What does it mean to walk uprightly before Almighty God? It's simple, "he has shown me oh man what is good and what the Lord requires of thee, but it do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God, Micah 6:8. So we are to do good and be merciful not just be merciful but to love mercy! It's easy to do good but sometimes it's a little more difficult to love mercy. But that is what the Lord requires in this way we will walk humbly before Almighty God! So the next time you get offended or hurt by something someone says or does to you just remember Micah 6:8. This really hit me between the eyes! We all want mercy especially when it comes from God. In order to obtain mercy we need to be prepared to be merciful as well. Just as God was merciful to Abraham and promised to bless Ishmael so too we can remember not to run ahead of God. We also need to be careful not to take for granted this great gift! Mercy and love go hand in hand. The more we love the more merciful we will be. The more merciful and forgiving the more loving we will become. The results will be an amazing humility will shine forth we will both bless God and those around us! We will be good examples of who it is we claim to worship! The world is looking and watching to see if our actions lineup with what we say.
B'Shem Yeshua Hamashiach, Amen In His Love, Theresa
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