Abram is getting old, his wife Sarai can’t have children, and the excitement they both felt at God’s promise of her having a son has now faded into the realization that they likely have been duped. After all, it had been at least a dozen years and still no baby. Maybe this God was not all he was cracked up to be? Maybe it was all a cruel joke? All Abram can do now is settle into the real facts of life: his wife would never conceive and the best God could do for them and their family would have to come through Ishmael, a son Abram had with his girlfriend.
Then God appears. “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” God has not forgotten. He still loves Abram, doubts and all. It’s not a cruel joke. His claims and commands are bold, and they seem to come with power:
