Tues.’s Devo - God Almighty

Read: Genesis 16:1-18:15; Matthew 6:1-24; Psalm 7:1-17; Proverbs 2:1-5 Sarai was barren and knowing God was expecting them to have descendants, she suggested that Abraham have a child through her servant Hagar. When a slave was given to a woman before she was married like Hagar was, the slave was the total property of that woman’s. Sarai, alone had the right to give Hagar to Abraham as a secondary wife for the purpose of having children. *** Abraham agreed and Hagar became pregnant. When she did, she began to treat Sarai with contempt. Sarai took her grievance to Abraham and he told her that Hagar was her servant, so she had to handle it. Sarai began to treat Hagar so badly, till she finally ran away. *** God met Hagar and told her to return and submit to Sarai because she would have a son and God would give her so many descendants she would not be able to count them. Her son would be wild and not have any allies in his family. *** Hagar was so overwhelmed that God had seen her in her desperate state that she named the well she was at, Beer-lahai-roi, which means “the One who sees me.” *** Abram was 86 years old when Hagar delivered Ishmael. *** When Abram was 99, the Lord introduced himself to Abram as El-Shaddai - “God Almighty” He told Abram to serve him faithfully and he would give him countless descendants. He covenanted with Abraham to make him a father of a multitude of nations. He changed his name to Abraham which means “Father of nations.” Kings would be among them. *** God would give him the land of Canaan and it would be their possession forever, and He would be their God. *** It was the responsibility of Abraham and his descendants to obey the terms of the covenant. All the males must be circumcised and all after him - the eighth day after their birth. *** Sarai’s name would be changed to Sarah and God was going to bless her with a son. She would become the mother of many nations and kings. *** Abraham worshiped the Lord and wondered how he would become a father at 100. Abraham wanted Ishmael to live under this blessing but the Lord said, “No” - the covenant would be to Sarah’s descendants. Ishmael would be blessed and multiply to become the father of 12 princes and become a great nation. But God’s covenant would be with Isaac, who would be born to Sarah the next year. *** Abraham immediately circumcised all the male under him. Ishmael was 13 at the time. *** One day Abraham was sitting under the shade of the trees in the grove when he saw three men standing nearby. He ran to welcome them. He begged them to stay and let him take care of them. As Abraham was waiting on them, they asked where Sarah was. He answered that she was in the tent. The one told him that when he returned next year, she would have a son. *** Sarah heard what he said in the tent and laughed silently in disbelief. The man (the Lord) asked Abraham why Sarah laughed and doubted God could do this. Sarah was so afraid, she lied saying she didn’t laugh, but the Lord rebuked her. She did laugh. *** This is a great reminder to us that we can’t fool God with our excuses. He knows every thought and intention of our hearts and he would rather have our honesty than our defensive answers. *** Jesus addresses this very thing in Matthew. He calls it hypocrisy. We are to do our good deeds in secret and not act to please others to look good in front of them; it is God who is going to reward us, not them. 
 *** God gave us an example of how to pray. First acknowledge who we are praying to. Then pray his will which is his Kingdom to come to earth. Then pray for our needs and for forgiveness. Realize that we have to give to others what we want from God. We cannot get the forgiveness we need until we give it to others. *** When we are suffering for the Lord, we are to learn that we are storing up treasures deep inside and like Mary did, we need to learn how to hide them in our hearts. We can not be divided in our devotion to God, we must serve him only. *** Lord, may we be honest with you and acknowledge our need for you. You are the God who sees our inmost parts and chooses to walk with us despite our weaknesses. May you be strong where we are weak and may we be humble and teachable in the places think we are strong.