God’s Commitment
As we go on through Genesis 17, we see God reassure Abram of his commitment to His promise. Look at all the “I wills” in God’s words: “I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”” (Genesis 17:5-8 NIV11)
Then a bit later the “I WILLS” continue: “I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”” (Genesis 17:16 NIV11)
From “I AM” to “I WILL”
So from saying “I AM”… God now says “I WILL”. And we’re on the other side looking back and we can essentially hear God today saying “I DID”.
- He DID make Abram fruitful – even though at the time it felt like God wasn’t holding up his promise. He did it at His time.
- He DID make nations of Abram and Sarai, and kings came from them. The nation of Israel was God’s chosen nation, and many Israelite kings ruled over the centuries to come. He did it.
- He DID establish His everlasting covenant with Abram’s descendants. And praise God, He opened the doors for Gentiles too, so that not only believing Jews, but believing Gentiles are all Abram’s descendants by faith now. God did it. And just as He promised to be the God of Abram’s descendants, so He has been.
- He DID give the land of Canaan to the Israelites, and in Joshua’s day they moved in and conquered all the lands around them. Of course, today there is controversy about this: some people believe the modern nation of Israel is still entitled to that physical land because of this promised; others believe that in Christ, this promise was transformed, and now the whole world is a kind of promised land where people filled with Spirit of God bring blessings to the people around them.
God is not just an “I AM” God who doesn’t follow through. He’s an “I WILL” God.
We Can Trust Him
Let’s be people who have confidence in what God will do. We can go as far back as Genesis and see the faithfulness of God, and be assured that He will be faithful to us too.
Hold on to Him in faith today would you.
He is El Shaddai, God Almighty. He’s the same God today as He was in Genesis 17!
You can trust His commitment to His promises.
