Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise; then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word. [1]
The father of many nations
Genesis 17:1-8 NRSV
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you and will make you exceedingly numerous.” Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God.”
The New Testament mentions Abraham more than any other Old Testament figure except Moses, and it stresses his significance as a man of faith. When called to leave Mesopotamia, Abraham “obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8). Even after reaching Canaan, Abraham still remained a stranger and did not live to see the fulfillment of the promises. He did believe that God would give him a son and that his offspring would someday become as numerous as the stars. Of this faith it is written that God “credited it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:4-6) . . . Abraham’s unwavering faith in the promises of God remains a challenge to all people to “believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead” (Romans 4:20-24).[2]
Chrysostom
After the tenth year he took Ishmael, his child by the maidservant, and considered that the promises had been fulfilled for him in the child. The patriarch was, you remember, the text tells us, eighty-six years old when Ishmael was born. The loving God, however, exercised the virtue of the just man for a still further period of thirteen years. When God saw that he had been purified like gold in a furnace for a long period of time and had rendered the just man’s virtue more conspicuous and resplendent, Scripture says, “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, God appeared to him again.” Why did God delay so long? Not simply that we should get to know the just man’s endurance and his great virtue, but for us to see, as well, the extraordinary degree of his power. You see, when nature lost its potency and was now useless for childbearing, his body being wasted and chilled with old age, God put into effect the promise to demonstrate his peculiar power.[3]
Matthew Henry
The covenant was to be accomplished in due time. The promised Seed was Christ, and Christians in him. And all who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abram, being partakers of the same covenant blessings. In token of this covenant his name was changed from Abram, “a high father,” to Abraham, “the father of a multitude.” All that the Christian world enjoys, it is indebted for to Abraham and his Seed. [4]
Warren Wiersbe
“Abram” means “high father”; “Abraham” means “father of a multitude.” “Sarai” is said to mean “contentious”; but “Sarah” means “a princess.” Their new names were preparation for the new blessing about to enter their home. Only the grace of God could take two idol-worshiping heathen and make godly kings and queens out of them![5]
The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of 1571
XII-Of Good Works
Albeit that Good Works, which are the fruits of Faith, and follow after Justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God’s Judgment; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively Faith; insomuch that by them a lively Faith may be as evidently known as a tree discerned by the fruit.[6]
The New City Catechism
Question #30
What is faith in Jesus Christ?
Faith in Jesus Christ is acknowledging the truth of everything that God has revealed in his Word, trusting in him, and also receiving and resting on him alone for salvation as he is offered to us in the gospel.[7]
Jesus, Master, look upon me, put the earnest cry in my heart, that I may unceasingly, with the apostles’ prayer, send forth this as the first and greatest petition of my whole soul: Lord, increase my faith. Amen![8]
My Faith Has Found a Resting Place
Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name. And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God. [9]
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Corinthians 4.15).
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), Ps 119:41–42.
[2] Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, pp. 19-20.
[3] Chrysostom, “Homilies on Genesis 39.5.” Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Old Testament Volume II, p. 51.
[4] Matthew Henry and Thomas Scott, Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, 1997), Ge 17:1.
[5] Warren W. Wiersbe, Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the Old Testament (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1993), Ge 17.
[6] Anglican Book of Common Prayer, 2019, pp. 776-777.
[7] The New City Catechism Devotional, 2017, p. 133.
[8] Robert Hawker, “Increase My Faith,” in Piercing Heaven: Prayers of the Puritans, ed. Robert Elmer (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2019), 59.
[9] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Heb 13:15–16.
