BEING DOUBLE-MINDED
Opening Prayer
Loving Lord, I want my life to show the difference Your indwelling presence makes. Continue Your transforming work in me as I seek to live for Your glory.
Read GENESIS 17:15–27
15 God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”
19 Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac.[a] I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.” 22 When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
23 On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, 25 and his son Ishmael was thirteen; 26 Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that very day. 27 And every male in Abraham’s household, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him.
Footnotes
- Genesis 17:19 Isaac means he laughs.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Like the disciples, we ask, ‘Lord, teach us to pray’.1
In the second part of this chapter, Abraham regains his voice so that dialogue appears once again. God reaffirms the promise that Sarai – now renamed Sarah – will bear a son. Abraham falls on his face, but this external act of obeisance masks a private reaction which seems to be dismissive mockery of God’s words. His laughter suggests doubt regarding the possibility of this elderly couple producing a child. This passage has important lessons on the subject of prayer. Are the words we use to address God sometimes accompanied by thoughts which move in the opposite direction to our petitions? Abraham ‘said to himself’ (17) that to have a son was impossible, yet God’s response, ‘I have heard you’ (20) must surely refer not only to the plea for Ishmael but also to the unspoken doubts which triggered the laughter of the old man.
There is an old children’s hymn which includes the lines: ‘I often say my prayers, / But do I ever pray? / And do the wishes of my heart / Go with the words I say?’2 The warning seems more ap-propriate for adults than children; the latter are likely to speak to God with a sincerity which time and aging may erode. Does James have this story in mind when he warns his hearers of the peril of being ‘double-minded’ in the presence of God and then says that ‘laughter’ is to be re-placed by mourning and humility if the Lord is to ‘lift you up’?3 Notice, though, how gracious God is with the doubting patriarch; He reaffirms the promise, but links it to a specific time – ‘by this time next year’ (21) – while also promising a blessing for Ishmael. The God whom we address as ‘Father’ through Christ is ‘able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine’.4
Apply
Reflect for a moment on your prayer life. Ask God for grace, that word and thought may more often be in harmony.
Closing prayer
Lord God, today I trust again in Your promises. Help me to trust You in the dark, and when I cannot see the way ahead.
1 Luke 11:1 2 John Burton, 1803–77 3 James 4:7–10 4 Eph 3:20
Book and Author Intros
Extras
Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.
© 2024 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.
Encounter with God is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.