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For I know the plans I have for you,declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jer 29:11 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Saturday, July 30, 2022
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :The Story of Abraham [18] Bible Verse:Genesis 17:15-21 (ESV) "nd 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.” " Message:
As He did with Abraham, God gives Sarai a new name that sounds similar to the old one but has a different meaning. “Sarah” means “princess”; this accords with her new role, as the mother of God's nation. Nobody is completely certain what “Sarai” means or even what language it came from; it could be Akkadian, or even some lost language, since it is the name she brought with her from Mesopotamia.
Abraham laughs at the idea of them having a child at their age, having failed to do so in their youth. He is not disrespecting or disbelieving God, for Abraham is God's true servant (and we will soon see the depth of his faith). But I think most men, hearing that their 46-year-old wife is pregnant, would laugh about it at some point. (The Gregorian calendar would put Sarah's age somewhere around 45-49.)
Monkeys battling snails from Illuminated Hymnal
However, Abraham is sincerely concerned about his son, Ishmael. The phrase “that he might live before you” means that Ishmael might be blessed by God's favor and live in righteousness before Him, something Abraham would fervently (and understandably) desire for his son.
God responds that He will indeed bless Ishmael to a large degree; but it is to be the second son, by Sarah, who will be the patriarch of the chosen people, with whom God will make his covenant.
It might come as a surprise to many people that Abraham (Ibrahim in Arabic) is every bit as holy to Islam as he is to Judaism. This is where Ishmael becomes even more interesting, because Arabs believe that Ishmael was their patriarch, which is entirely consistent with today's Scripture; however, they also believe that Hagar was Abraham's true wife and it was this eldest son who received the blessing of Allah.
In addition, they believe that Muhammad was the direct patrilineal descendant of Ishmael, much as Christians trace the ancestry of Jesus back to Abraham. Until we reach the split of Ishmael and Isaac, Islam and Judaism are startlingly similar.
Meditation : Prayer : All through this day, O Lord, by the power of your quickening Spirit, let me touch the lives of others for good, whether through.......Amen |
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