The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Genesis 21:1-2,
"Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him."
It is difficult for us today in our culture to appreciate the humiliation and reproach a barren wife experienced in the patriarchal society Abraham and Sarah lived in. A common convention in those days was for a barren wife to offer her servant girl to her husband in order to carry on the family line. Although Sarah and Abraham did this, it was not through that offspring, Ishmael, God had decided to bless Abraham as a "father of nations" through. It would be through this promised son Isaac that Sarah herself bore in her old age (90 years old!). Although Sarah and Abraham attempted to fulfill God's promises through their own machinations, the Lord brought about the fulfillment of his promises his own way - in his own timing.
Moses tells us that when the Lord did so he was "gracious to Sarah". This is the theme that has stirred my heart this morning. There is something wonderful and fantastic about the Lord: he is a God of grace!
Just what was it that Sarah did that warranted this wonderful blessing of God? Was God in some way indebted to Sarah or Abraham that the Lord blessed Abraham and promised him land, nations as descendants and a life of blessing? Did the Lord have to do any of those things? As Paul points out in Romans 4 - that Abraham is the father of all who believe, is there any reason the Lord would have to bless us with the redemption found in Jesus Christ with the promise of eternal life in him?
I am convinced that our wonderful loving God is full, complete, without lack in anything. He doesn't need us for anything; there is nothing he needs that requires even our existence. It is only through his gracious disposition and love that we have existence. Beyond existence he has brought us into a life of purpose and meaning. He has blessed us all in so many ways. He watches over us and delights in us as we turn to him and as we make those choices that please him.
What did Abraham and Sarah do to warrant God's gracious blessing? Abraham was a man of faith. God has set him as a model of what faith looks like and James calls Abraham God's friend. But surely God was not indebted to Abraham in any way that he was required to bless him.
He certainly is not indebted to me in any way as he extends his love, his mercy, his forgiveness, his kindness, his compassion toward me. It is precisely the other way around. I am indebted to him! This is what I think of when I think of God's grace. He maintains a disposition toward us that is unwarranted and not required but intensely wonderful and fantastic for us! He was toward Sarah as he blessed her with a child in her old age and he certainly has been toward me by giving me the opportunity to become his child, to belong to his family!
How wonderful is the grace of God!
It is difficult for us today in our culture to appreciate the humiliation and reproach a barren wife experienced in the patriarchal society Abraham and Sarah lived in. A common convention in those days was for a barren wife to offer her servant girl to her husband in order to carry on the family line. Although Sarah and Abraham did this, it was not through that offspring, Ishmael, God had decided to bless Abraham as a "father of nations" through. It would be through this promised son Isaac that Sarah herself bore in her old age (90 years old!). Although Sarah and Abraham attempted to fulfill God's promises through their own machinations, the Lord brought about the fulfillment of his promises his own way - in his own timing.
Moses tells us that when the Lord did so he was "gracious to Sarah". This is the theme that has stirred my heart this morning. There is something wonderful and fantastic about the Lord: he is a God of grace!
Just what was it that Sarah did that warranted this wonderful blessing of God? Was God in some way indebted to Sarah or Abraham that the Lord blessed Abraham and promised him land, nations as descendants and a life of blessing? Did the Lord have to do any of those things? As Paul points out in Romans 4 - that Abraham is the father of all who believe, is there any reason the Lord would have to bless us with the redemption found in Jesus Christ with the promise of eternal life in him?
I am convinced that our wonderful loving God is full, complete, without lack in anything. He doesn't need us for anything; there is nothing he needs that requires even our existence. It is only through his gracious disposition and love that we have existence. Beyond existence he has brought us into a life of purpose and meaning. He has blessed us all in so many ways. He watches over us and delights in us as we turn to him and as we make those choices that please him.
What did Abraham and Sarah do to warrant God's gracious blessing? Abraham was a man of faith. God has set him as a model of what faith looks like and James calls Abraham God's friend. But surely God was not indebted to Abraham in any way that he was required to bless him.
He certainly is not indebted to me in any way as he extends his love, his mercy, his forgiveness, his kindness, his compassion toward me. It is precisely the other way around. I am indebted to him! This is what I think of when I think of God's grace. He maintains a disposition toward us that is unwarranted and not required but intensely wonderful and fantastic for us! He was toward Sarah as he blessed her with a child in her old age and he certainly has been toward me by giving me the opportunity to become his child, to belong to his family!
How wonderful is the grace of God!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
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