Devotionals

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HEIRS BY THE PROMISE

This man, Abraham, had just gone through a very rough ride. First, he was a dependant till the age of seventy-five, I mean, still crossing Mrs. Terah’s legs over there in the kitchen! Then, he took trash along to his new homeland, Lot. Now, Lot was a brother, a nephew. But was he also on the list of GOD’s movement? To see the end from the beginning, Lot had plenty to remain for than just the little temporal pastures of Sodom to go after, which were soon to be fueled up for flames. The other thorn in the flesh, I call it hot breath in the neck, was Hagar. These ladies, many times lose their calling all too easily. These days, it is actually competition between maid and mistress.

But all that aside, there came a promise after all. Father Abram was astonishingly rich. But all that became cancelled out by the thought of childlessness. Serve GOD for grace, this man kept the faith. A hundred years for a man, and the wife lagging behind in age only by a decade or so! Paul puts it this way: Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead –since he was about a hundred years old—and Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise…. (Romans 4: 18—20, NIV)

If Abraham married at fifty, it means he waited another fifty years before my namesake came along. I know no one who marries at fifty; may be re-re-re-marrying! And being a guardian of hope for half a century is not a matter to pass over.

Then there was Ishmael, a whole new taste to the story. But it is always good to realize that from the present the past is all too short, you can recount a millennium in a minute! Finally here came the long awaited promise, Isaac. May be too good to be true, but true, a son of his great grannies. There was one profound truth surrounding the whole ‘long-waiting’ issue: GOD cannot lie. Abraham knew this fact better than the colour of his own skin! He did not mind going for yet another decade or so, only if his flesh would support it. And Isaac was just a little pack of sacrifice meat! Abraham had to shed the blood of his only begotten, all too soon. How could I wait seventy-five years, now ninety, for such a horrible day!

But what was Abraham trading with GOD in all this?
I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you;
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And whoever curses you I will curse;
And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
I will make you very fruitful;
I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.

I am sorry to mention that this is the minimum you should receive from GOD when you accept JESUS. I am sorry because I am sure you may not have been expecting just that much. If you belong to CHRIST, all these promises that GOD gave to Abraham belong to you. You don’t have to wait a hundred years to receive our promise. Only a simple ‘yes!’ to the Lamb of GOD is all it takes. You are an heir by the promise.

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