Genesis 17
God seems to repeat Himself quite a bit in His conversations with Abra(ha)m. Once again He tells Abram his promise, maybe with a little more detail this time, but it still seems like the same old thing. It seems like Abram could have been tempted to respond, at least internally with a "here we go again, I keep hearing this, but I'm waiting to see it happen" kind of mentality. He at least doubts a little- laughing at the idea of a 100 year old man and a 90 year old woman having a child. I'm more tempted to be nauseated at the thought than to laugh, but Abraham laughs as God is telling him. That's pretty gutsy. This great pillar of faith chuckles at promises God makes, "knowing" how outlandish they are. While humor might not be the venue that we use to display it, maybe we doubt the same way- we hear it over and over, but inside we doubt that God can or will come through for us in the end. How could He really forgive us? Why would He bother? Maybe we need Him to constantly remind us so we can actually believe that He will follow through on all He's told us is in store for us, no matter what the sins of our past are.
The covenant is pretty steep. Circumcision. Go ahead, cross your legs, it's a natural reaction. A couple of thoughts here- the command is for everyone 8 days old or older to go through the procedure. A painful thought now- even more so in a time with archaic medical practices, less than sterile operating conditions, and not much in the form of sedation, at least to my knowledge. 8 days old- and if it doesn't happen, you're cut off from God. How can an 8 day old guy have any control at all over this surgery happening? Why did God hold these babies responsible? Or is there more to it- is grace the key even then? God knows who's responsible and when we're able to obey and defy.
What an arduous task for Abraham the next day. To approach a camp full of men of various ages and convince them of the need to have non-health essential medical surgery on their sexual organs to please a God that to my knowledge hadn't spoken directly to them, only to Abraham, must have taken some amazing persuasive skill. It's one thing to give this surgery to a crying baby- but to convince an adult male to endure the pain must have taken some serious commitment.
Abram to Abraham; "exalted father" to "father of many"- but what's the significance of Sarai to Sarah? No indication in the footnotes on that one.
FYI: So the night I wrote the last post I thought about Hagar's situation and I think I had it all wrong. Maybe instead of thinking that God offers a less than appealing promise for Hagar which somehow convinced her to go back to Abram's camp- the message really is God saying- Look Hagar- I know you're in trouble- and things aren't going to get better soon. Ishmael is in for a mess of a time- but know this- I'm here, I'll be watching- and in the end- it will all work out.
And maybe that's what we need to hear too. God says, No, I'm not going to shield you from it all. You'll experience sickness, and fear and guilt, and pain and you may be haunted by the sins of your past- but I'm here, I'll be watching- and in the end it will all work out. And that's more than enough.
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