Genesis 17:6-9 NLT
“I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you, from generation to generation. This is the everlasting covenant: I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you. And I will give the entire land of Canaan, where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God.” Then God said to Abraham, “Your responsibility is to obey the terms of the covenant. You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility.”
This well-known snapshot from the life of Abraham in the Old Testament is one of the clearest examples in Scripture where God makes a direct and specific promise to an individual. I read God’s words in these verses with a bit of amazement, that He would commit His faithful provision for generations, extending far beyond Abraham’s lifetime.
I am also struck by verse 9, where God lays out the terms of the covenant. Abraham’s responsibility was to obey. Furthermore, the responsibility to obey continued to his descendents, far beyond his lifetime. The covenant began between God and Abraham, but the promises (and conditions) would last forever.
I can imagine this type of long-lasting, family relationship with God must have been difficult for Abraham to conceptualize. He certainly had no direct control over the choices of future generations - any parent knows this principle very well. In those days, outside of oral tradition, there weren’t many ways for him to communicate his faith and values to his descendents. He simply had to be a man of faith, trusting God to keep the covenant (as He always does) and trusting his family to watch his example and commit their lives to following the God he loved.
As I read the Bible, I see worship as the component of Abraham’s faith that was most tangible and observable. He chose to worship God, even when it was hard, and even when God tested him with an unthinkable request (sacrificing his son Isaac on the altar - Genesis 22). This may have been the most dramatic example of his commitment to be a worshiper, but the Scriptural narrative is filled with times that Abraham built altars and offered worship to God. Every person close to Abraham would have known that worshiping God was an important priority in his life. He certainly wasn’t a perfect person, and the Bible shows this to us, but Abraham was a man of faith. This faith was clearly expressed through worship, and God reciprocated with a uniquely close relationship to Abraham throughout his life.
Obey God. Worship God.
Rinse and repeat.
This seems overly simplistic, but it’s a pretty good recipe for a covenant relationship with a God who always keeps His promises.
Brent
bmills@b4church.org
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