With all the noise in the world, do you hear the voice of God? Your calendar tells you what to do, but do you remember who you are? Being comes before doing. This is a call to put first things first. Return to the Lord with this daily pattern of prayer and devotion. Set aside this time as a sanctuary. Find a space free of distraction and follow this pattern.
Reopening the Bible Week 2: WEDNESDAY
Invocation
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Invitation
O Lord, your scars are your trophies, proof of your unfailing love for me. I am haunted by the guilt of my past, the sins of my present, and my fear of the future. Lord, at the cross you said, “It is finished.” So I stop my worry. I rest in you. You have done it all. Amen.
Confession
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Lord, forgive my fugitive ways. I turn and run from you. Forgive my criminal acts of hypocrisy and self-righteousness. Forgive my violations of arrogance and selfishness. Forgive me for denying you, ignoring you, and disregarding you. I am the one at fault. I have no other help but to turn my face to you and plead, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Word: Genesis 17:1-2
“When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.’”
Meditation: Called to Bear FruitToday’s meditation is written by Megan Roegner.
I am drawn to women’s stories, particularly in the Bible, where they are so often in the background but always present. The Old Testament narratives are dominated by patriarchs, but their wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, and servants are fascinating in their own right. What was it like to be a woman in a time when you could so easily be given away to appease a powerful man, or when your infertility was seen as a justifiable reason for your husband to have children with another woman? How do these vulnerable, and sometimes voiceless and unseen women fit into God’s story?
I know it’s dangerous to apply modern values to ancient people, but knowing Sarah’s story adds interesting shadows to Abraham’s. In between the time that God first promises Abram that he will be the father of a great nation and the covenant in Genesis 17, Abram has indeed given Sarai to the Egyptian pharaoh, who is struck by her beauty and believes her to be Abram’s sister. He has also, at Sarai’s urging, taken her servant Hagar as a concubine to bear his children. When tensions arise between Hagar and Sarai, Abram tells her to do with Hagar as she pleases, and her “harsh” dealings lead pregnant Hagar to run away into the desert.
So when God tells Abram to “be blameless” in 17:1, it feels like the bar might be set a little too high. (I feel like it’s worth noting that even after making this covenant with God, Abraham gives Sarah, still a knock-out at the age of 90, to another king in chapter 20.) But this is the point, right? That even Abraham, whom Paul calls “the father of us all” (Romans 4:16), was not “blameless” by his own merits. As Paul says earlier in Romans 4, “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” (4:2-3). It is the story told over and over again, how God uses flawed but faithful people (Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David…) to point us to Jesus, who established the “new covenant in [his] blood” (Luke 22:25), a relationship of grace.
But let’s not let the women slip away unseen into the background. Even in a highly patriarchal society, we see that God does not forget or neglect Sarah and Hagar, for all of their mistakes and lack of power. Sarah, deeply flawed herself, was always part of God’s plan for Israel. It is not just any son of Abraham whom God will establish a covenant with, but with Sarah’s son. And even Hagar, cast out once again by Abraham and Sarah after the birth of Isaac, is protected by God, a God she describes as a “God of seeing” and “him who looks after me” (Genesis 16:13).
God Almighty, I am sorry for the times I fail to walk before you, blameless. Thank you for your grace: for seeing me when I am wrong and making me right, for seeing me when I’m weak and making me strong. Amen.
Benediction
Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant,equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Heb. 13:20-21)