A Difficult Sign

Genesis 17:9-14

We just read about all the incredible things God promised to do for Abraham: how he will be great and numerous and how God will make these blessings come to fruition.

Then we enter the second half of the covenantal agreement.

Abraham must do something to hold up his side of the bargain: circumcision.

This condition was not optional.

As you could imagine, Abraham and the grown men who were a part of his group were probably not jumping for joy at the idea of taking a knife to their most precious body part.

So why does God ask for this?

Circumcision is meant to be a sign.

Just like the rainbow was a sign to Noah or the Passover meal a sign to the rescued Israelites.

This act is a physical reminder to Abraham and his descendants that God promised He would do something, and if they want to be a part of it, they must do this one thing.

You too must do one thing if you are to become a part of what God has promised, and that is believe in His Son Jesus Christ.

Abraham didn’t have a “savior” yet.

He was serving a God very few knew about.

Think how ridiculous some of his men and descendants probably thought this ritual was – You want me to do what?!

However, all of this was paving the way toward events Abraham could have never conceived happening, let alone discovering he was a major pillar in their coming true.

As you grow in your faith and live out this frustrating, beautiful, confusing, adventurous adventurous thing called the Christian life, you will inevitably be faced with circumcision events.

God will ask you to do things that do not make sense and that will probably hurt in the short term.

Our job, like Abraham, is not to figure out exactly how all of this is going to work and why it had to be done this way. 

Our role is much simpler, albeit more difficult: to trust God.

I can’t help but think that all of those in Abraham’s care respected him to such a degree, that when they saw their leader undergo circumcision at his ripe old age, nearly all of them followed without argument.

They trusted his faith and he trusted God.

That is the sort of person I want to become.

Takeaway: God will ask difficult things of us at times; trust Him anyways.

Prayer: Thank you that Jesus is the reason I can believe in the promises of God. When You ask hard things of me, please give me the faith to follow through.