GENESIS 21: Devotion

As promised, Sarah had a son: Isaac. Sarah had Hagar and Ishmael sent away but God preserved them. 

"God is in no hurry in the working out of His plans. Man may fret and fume, hurry and bustle, but Jehovah has all eternity at His disposal and works leisurely and with deliberation. Well for us to mark this attentively—"He that believeth shall not make haste."~Isaiah 28:16

(A.W. Pink)

GENESIS 20: Devotion

In Gerar Abraham said, "Sarah is my sister." King Abimelech took her but God threatens judgment upon him for taking her. Abraham is rebuked by the king and Abraham gives an excuse. Sarah is restored to Abraham.

"We learn three glorious lessons of God's grace. First, God, in His grace here, intervenes on Abraham's behalf. And that reminds us that God in His grace often intervenes on our behalf even when we are the cause of our own problem.

Second, we see here that God not only protects us by His grace, but God by His grace exposes our sin even while we are working hard to conceal it.

And finally, we see that God in His grace uses us for His glory in spite of ourselves."

(Ligon Duncan)

GENESIS 19: Devotion

Angels took Lot out of Sodom. The city was destroyed by fire and Lot's wife was turned to salt. His daughters had children from him.

"The life of Lot shows us that it is possible to have a saved soul and a wasted life. Lot would be saved, but his life would accomplish nothing, as in...

{1 Corinthians 3:15}

'If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.'

(David Guzik)

GENESIS 18: Devotion

Three visitors came and said that Sarah would have a son next year. Sarah laughed within herself at this promise. Sodom was very evil; Abraham pleaded with the LORD for the city.

"The problem was that Sarah’s laughter reflected her unbelief in the promise of God. By nature we all trust in ourselves most of the time, and in God only when we really have to. If we trust in ourselves, then we glory in ourselves. But God’s purpose is that we glory in Him alone. So through various means He graciously brings us to the place where we have no hope except in Him, so that we trust in Him and He gets the glory."

(Steven J. Cole) 

GENESIS 17: Devotion

God made a covenant with Abram, "My covenant is with you and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations." God renamed him Abraham and Sarai Sarah, then promised them a son. The men in his household were circumcised.

"From the very beginning, God had in view that Jesus Christ would be the descendant of Abraham and that everyone who trusts in Christ would become an heir of Abraham's promise. So it says in Galatians 3:29, "If you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise."

(John Piper)

GENESIS 16: Devotion

God has promised Abram offspring over and over again but his wife Sarai has not yet born a child. Sarai takes matters into her own hands and offers her slave girl to Abram. Hagar conceived, then ran away, but an angel sent her back. Hagar's son was Ishmael.

"God is sovereign and we have a hard time accepting that.

We must not only trust God's promise, but we must obtain God's promises in the way, by the method which He says we are to obtain those promises."

(Ligon Duncan)

GENESIS 15: Devotion

The Lord promised Abram an heir and many descendants. Abram believed. He was told they will be enslaved in a land that is not theirs but would return.

"Abram reasoned not about the natural impossibility that lay in the way of the realization of the promise, but believed that God would act just as He had said. God had spoken and that was enough."

(AW Pink)