True hearing of God’s Word is the way out of the famine of hearing that has us in its grip. And true hearing of God’s Word begins with understanding God’s gracious covenant. Today’s reading from The Joy and Rejoicing of My Heart is found on pages 35 and 36:
“God’s covenant with Noah, being simply an extension of His covenant with Adam and Eve, continued to support the roadway of divine revelation unto the days of Abraham. With Abraham, God’s covenant takes a more definite shape, based on a set of promises God made to the patriarch concerning His intentions for His people.
“The promises of God to Abraham are precious and very great – so great and precious that they prompted this man to leave his prosperous and familiar way of life to go to a distant and unfamiliar place, there to wait on the LORD to fulfill His Word.
“God established His covenant with Abraham, as He declared in Genesis 17.2, and we can see that this is the same covenant as has existed from the very beginning. It is inaugurated by an act of God’s grace – calling a man out of wealth and idolatry by holding out to him the promise of life and peace. It requires certain actions of obedience on Abraham’s part, by which he would demonstrate his faith and trust in God. The first promise of God to Abraham is the promise of blessing, just as He had blessed Adam and Eve and Noah. The first act of Abraham in reminding himself of God’s grace and promise was to build an altar and sacrifice unto the Lord.
“All this looks very familiar because all Abraham was doing was situating himself squarely within the covenant God was entering with him, the same covenant He had entered with Adam and Eve and Noah, only, once again, adjusted for changes in the historical and cultural situation. Another sub-span for another unique person, place, and time, but still under the one overarching covenant of God.”
For reflection or discussion
1. When you think of the precious and very great promises of God, what comes to mind?
2. How is it clear to others that these promises are precious and very great to you?
God lead us by promises. He reaches us by His grace. And He directs us by His Word, all within the same covenant framework that obtained with Adam, Noah, and Abraham. Only now, God has fulfilled all His great and precious promises in Jesus, and we revel in the covenant God has made with us through Him. Share today’s podcast with a friend, then get together to discuss the promises of God. Your copy of The Joy and Rejoicing of My Heart is waiting for you at The Ailbe Bookstore.
T. M. Moore
