God's Promise: An Everlasting Covenant

Monday, Fourth Week of Advent

Genesis 17:15-22 (NRSV)

God promises Sarah a son

God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her." Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, "Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?" And Abraham said to God, "O that Ishmael might live in your sight!" God said, "No, but your wife Sarah shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; I will bless him and make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year." And when he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.

DEVOTION

I love this passage of scripture because it reminds me that God loves and cares for all of his children!

There is not one person in this scripture passage that does not get blessed!

Abraham was blessed because he got to talk to God and receive God's promise. Sarah was blessed because her prayers were answered and she became pregnant with a son. Isaac was blessed because God established an everlasting covenant with him and Ishmael was blessed because God determined to make of him a great nation!

WOW!

Sometimes I worry that some of us believe that God's blessings are limited. We worry that if God blesses others, God might not bless us. It's almost as if we are concerned that God's provision is limited!

Take heart, my friends! God's storehouse is eternally full and God's blessings are innumerable!

God's got enough to take care of you and take care of me...

Isn't that wonderful good news?!

We don't have to covet the blessings of others; we don't have to be jealous of God's work in the lives of our friends.

Instead, we get to trust God and lean completely into God's wisdom and understanding, blessing and provision.

In this Advent Season, this ought to bring us tremendous peace and joy! God proved His willingness to love us and radically bless us when Jesus was born into our world on CHRISTmas Day!

Jesus' life, death, and resurrection prove to us beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is willing to go to any lengths to bless us!

Let us give God thanks and praise for the wonders of his promise and everlasting covenant with us all, through Christ Jesus!

Let's pray: Oh good and gracious God, how I love you. I praise and thank you for blessing me so abundantly. Please help me to share your blessings and bounty with others. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

INVITATION

If you have questions about how to become a friend and follower of Jesus, please see the devotion entitled, “Come to Jesus” @ http://bit.ly/JVhaLta

IT'S NOT MY FAULT!

Job 36:1-23 (NRSV)

God's goodness is exalted

In today’s scripture Job was falsely accused of bringing great misfortune upon himself through some heinous crime against God. Job’s “so called friend,” Elihu, gives him a long lecture about not resisting the punishment of the Lord and not pretending to be righteous when he is not. He says that Job ought not to be angry; that God is just doing God’s job and that essentially Job should be grateful, having lost his family and his livelihood, that God has spared his life.

I’ve always said that Job’s three friends did not mess up until they spoke to him. Scripture teaches that they sat with him in silence for seven days. They were compassionate, which means that they were present with him in his suffering. They didn’t offer wise words, recriminations, lectures, or advice. They just sat with their friend and accompanied him quietly and gently through the valley of the shadow of death.

It is so sad that they could not remain silent. But, it is true that few of us do. When we see someone who is hurting or suffering under a load that does not make sense to us, we often feel a need to blame them. We seek a scapegoat. We don’t want to believe that God allows bad things to happen to good people for reasons that we are not wise enough to understand. It blows our minds when someone faithful loses her job, a nice person gets cancer, or a “good girl” gets raped. We say harmful, hurtful, and/or ignorant things like, “well maybe she should have worked harder, he should have eaten better, she shouldn’t have dressed in a way that invited violation.

I don’t know about you, but I have been the victim of people’s recriminations; I am sad to confess that I have also likely failed in my duty to be compassionate to others. But here is the GOOD NEWS! God knows all things and God knows the true state of your heart. Whilst others blame you for your misfortune, God stays with you, supporting and encouraging you during seasons of distress.

This is GOOD NEWS my friends! It means that although we sometimes do not understand our circumstances, our all wise, all knowing, ever loving, totally compassionate God is fully in control. God sees you and knows you and wishes the best for you. God has a good plan for your life, not to harm you, but to give you a future and hope (Jeremiah 29:11).

Now, ain’ta that good news?!

What difficult circumstance in your life do you need to surrender to God today? Or who can you sit in silent compassion with today?

Loving God, we exalt you for your goodness and thank you for all the ways that you care for us. It gives us comfort to know that nothing is a surprise to you. No matter how difficult the circumstances of our lives you are able to help us be victorious in Christ Jesus! Help us to exercise our faith in you today by prayerfully turning over our concerns for self and others. In Jesus Name, Amen.

*The entire scripture reading for today can be found by clicking the ELCA Daily Bible Reading Tab to the right.

*from Pastor Yolanda's blog http://aintathatgoodnews.blogspot.com/

*EACH ONE--REACH ONE! To share GOOD NEWS with a friend please click the "Share With Friends" button to the right! Thanks for reading and please come again.

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God's Promises Never Fail!

Presentation of Our Lord
Luke 2:22-40 (NRSV)*

I don’t know about you, but when someone makes me a promise, I want him or her to keep it! If you have kids you have undoubtedly heard you child whine, “But you PROMISED…” A promise is a vow that something will or will not be done.

Now let me tell you the truth, my parents have made me promises. My friends have made me promises. My husband has made me promises. Hey! Even my kids have made me promises. And despite their best efforts sometimes they are able to keep those promises and other times they are not.

But, here is today’s GOOD NEWS. God’s promises never fail! In today’s daily scripture reading, Simeon and Anna behold the promised messiah in the person of baby Jesus. They waited a long, long time to see the one who would bring peace, salvation, light, and glory to all the people of the world.

Unlike Simeon and Anna, we don’t have to wait at all to behold the promises of God revealed in Christ Jesus! They are available to us right now. God has already revealed God’s great love for us. God has already sent Jesus to the cross to reconcile the relationship between us and our Creator. God has already made it clear that in Christ we can access all of the love, joy, hope, and peace we could ever need. When Simeon and Anna beheld the promise of God, scripture teaches that they began to praise God with great rejoicing and to share the GOOD NEWS with others! What will your response be to God’s fulfilled promise in your life?

God on this day may we rejoice that you always keep your promises. Your best promise to us was fulfilled in Jesus Christ who was born, died on the cross, and rose on the third day securing our salvation! This is good news; help us to boldly share it with others. Amen.

*The entire scripture reading for today can be found by clicking the ELCA Daily Bible Reading Tab to the right.