Sat.’s Devo - The Promise

Read:Genesis 16:1-18:15; Matthew 6:1-24; Psalm 7:1-17; Proverbs 2:1-5 Sarai hadn’t produced a son so she gave her servant Hagar to Abram and told him to have a son through her. He reluctantly obeyed and Hagar became pregnant. She then made Sarai’s life so miserable that Sarai retaliated. Hagar ran away. God appeared to Hagar and told her to go back and submit to Sarai because she was pregnant with a son who she would name Ishmael. He would be an enemy to all his relatives but he would have more descendants than she could count. Hagar went back to Sarai and her son was born. Abram was eighty-six. Hagar called the place the Lord spoke to her, Beer-lahai-roi meaning “God sees me.” Thirteen years later, God appeared to Abram. He told him that he was making a covenant between them. Abram’s name would be changed to Abraham meaning “Father of many nations.” He was giving him and his seed the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession. He and all his descendants would be circumcised on the eighth day after their birth. Sarai would now be called Sarah meaning “mother of nations”. She would indeed have a son who would be named Isaac. He would be born the same time next year. Then God left. Abraham took all the male in his household and circumcised them and himself. He was 99 years old. God sent three angels as men to him. Abraham prepared food for them and as they sat to eat, they told him that when they returned in a year Sarah would have a son. Sarah heard them from inside her tent and laughed. They asked her why she laughed. She tried to tell them that she didn’t laugh but they didn’t accept her words. In Matthew, Jesus continued his sermon. He was teaching us how to be humble. Give, pray, and fast privately. He gave us an example of how to pray. We are to learn to forgive those who mean harm to us and to store up our treasures in heaven instead of on earth. We can only have one master so we need to choose wisely, our eternity is at stake. Lord, help us to live with eternity on the forefront of our minds. May we remember that you do see us and love us. You have a purpose for us and our posterity to be a blessing to the world.