January 19 - Genesis 17:5

"No longer shall your name be Abram,

but your name shall be Abraham"

Gen 17:5

 

Every time I read this verse I laugh.

 

Abram is 99. He has no children. Yet after God shows up, this old man starts tottering around town and demanding that people call him "father of many nations." (That's what the new name "Abraham" means.)

 

They probably thought he was senile. "Yeah, right. Let's humor the old guy and call him 'Grandpa for our Nation.'"

 

The name of God is Yahweh. In ancient times, it was so holy, that the Jews would neither say it or write it out. At most, they would abbreviate our Lord's name: YHWH. Look at those letters. It is not an exaggeration to say that when God changed Abram's name to AbraHam and Sarai's name to SaraH, he gave them both one of his H's. Or more accurately, he gave them part of himself.

 

Part of the covenant in Genesis 17 meant that God would giving Abraham and his family part of his name, part of his identity. From now on, God's future and Abraham's future (including the future of his offspring) would be inseperably intertwined.

 

In and through Christ and the New Testament, there is a new covenant. Part of what God promises through Jesus is that your future and his will be inseparably intertwined.

And guess what ... you don't have to wait til you're 99 to claim this identity!

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who's thinking of

changing his name from Ed to Led

(I'll take a L from Lord)