God's Faithfulness in the Midst of Doubt

Tonight we are going to cover a longer portion of scripture and we are going to break it up into three parts. Last week we saw God reaffirm the covenant and give Abraham the sign of the covenant which was circumcision. Tonight we are starting at the end of that same scene as God continues there with Abraham. The scene is then going to shift after God is done talking to Abraham there are going to be visitors that come and reaffirm this promise and let Sarah in on it.

The big thing that there will be to notice here in this section of text is the repeated doubt. First when Abraham is told of what will happen he laughs and then when Sarah overhears this she laughs in the same way. Despite the doubt that they have that leads them to laughter God is still faithful to his promises to them. Just as he has been in each of their failures.

As we go through this text tonight we need to think about our own doubt. When God calls us to something does this lead us to laughing in disbelief or does it lead us to faithful obedience?

Before we get into the text though I want to make clear that laughing is not always a bad thing. In the Bible we can actually tell if it is depicted as bad or good based on the grammar and here it is not depicted as a good thing. It is like a laughing scoff than a joyous celebratory laugh.

So with that in mind who here has the best joke to kick us off tonight?

Lets pray and then we can get to point one and look at the text.

God Confirms and Clarifies the Promise

Genesis 17:15–22 ESV

And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name 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 become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.” When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.

So the passage begins with God also changing the name of Sarai to Sarah which means princess. Last week Abram was changed to Abraham. These name changes and signifying the changes that happening to the both of them. God then tells him that he will give her a son. Abraham was so shocked by this that he fell on his face before him but then he laughed. The then in his doubt ask God how this can be since they are both old.

Here in this moment of doubt Abraham is hung up on the natural side of things. His question is a logical question yet it fails to consider that he is asking the one who made this process. He is going to the one who created them and asking how he can do something.

Abraham then pleads with God to just consider his son that he had in sin, Ishmael. God tells him that he will bless Ishmael but this is not the chosen one. The chosen one is to be the son that he will have in a year with Sarah whose name will be Isaac which means he laughs.

Then God went up and left Abraham. Abraham is just left there with all of this information and he cannot question any of it.

God once again here reaffirms what he has been telling Abraham but this time with shocking detail clarifying what will happen. It has gone all the way to who will have the child, that the child will be a son, the name of the child, and even when they will have it.

God has promised him these things all the way from chapter 12 but Abraham has not fully lived like they are true. There are times where he stands as a strong man of faith and other times where he falters and doubts and struggles. Despite all of these times God continues to reassure him and remain faithful to him.

With how faithful he is to Abraham we should be assured of how faithful God is to us. God never changes, he is the same here as in the New Testament and he is the same there as he is now. With how faithful God is there is only one way that we should respond and that is what we will see next.

Abraham Responds with Obedience

Genesis 17:23–27 ESV

Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. And all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

The text at the beginning of chapter 17 tells us that this is what God commanded Abraham to do. When God left after speaking to Abraham, Abraham did exactly what he should as a response. This response is obedience.

Throughout the Bible obedience is a response that we are called to have to God. It is never something that we do to get something from God. For example there is nothing that we can do to earn salvation, you cannot be good enough or do any action to be saved, we are obedient out of a response of thankfulness to God. Because of his saving us we live in obedience to him.

For Abraham here God has done all of these wonders for him so he is obedient to what God tells him to do. He is not working towards anything from God but rather he is showing his thankfulness and commitment to God through his actions.

In our own lives we need to consider our obedience towards God. Are we following what he has commanded us or are we following the world? Another thing to consider is your motives. Are you being obedient out of thankfulness or are you trying to earn some favor from God? The posture of our heart matters just as much as the action itself.

From here the scene shifts and we see some visitors come on the scene.

God Reaffirms His Word Through Messengers

Genesis 18:1–15 ESV

And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.” And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate. They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

So as the scene shifts we see Abraham gets some visitors. Three men who we know are angels come and speak with the authority of the Lord. Abraham did not immediately recognize who they were but he is a very hospitable host to them. He gets them water to wash their feet and he provides food for them. While they are eating this feast prepared for them they ask Abraham where Sarah is. Abraham tells them and they they say again what the Lord just told Abraham. They say that in about a year she will have a child.

It is here that we see Sarah have the same reaction as Abraham and she laughs. this is not just a laugh though because they ask her after why she laughed and she proceeds to lie and say that she did not laugh but they call her out on it and say no you did laugh.

Abraham is not alone in doubting what they are told is going to happen. As we can see it is an easy thing to doubt. What is impossible with man is possible with God. Though assured by the power of God it is still a difficult thing to grasp.

We will eventually see though that God will be faithful to this promise despite their laughing doubts.

Conclusion

So let me ask you as we close this evening, how do you react when you read the promises of God? How do you react when God calls you to something? I don’t think that our response is always laughing like here in this story but our response is not always a good one.

I remember when I realized I was called to ministry. It was not sudden but gradual but when I accepted the call I was a bit overwhelmed. I had worked my entire life towards one thing and I had just got that one thing and it was all over. There was another feeling there though and that is what I had to lean into, that was the feeling of peace. Though I was overwhelmed and scared there was a peace there that I could feel. Now looking back there is nothing else I would rather be doing. It is funny how God works despite our doubts. We just need to remember to be obedient to all that he has for us.