Dynasty: Covenant Ceremony Pt.1

For better or for worse.

In sickness and in health.

In weakness and in strength.

It is divine irony that we think of faith and Abram synonymously, better yet it is an outright testament to the grace and power of God.

Faith was not Abraham's strength... It was his weakness that was disciplined into his strength. We return again to God's mysterious plan of using weak people to promulgate strength. (2 Cor. 12:9). As the family of God continually illustrates; the weakness/thorn in the flesh will be turned around to become our strength in the end.

What Happens in Egypt Doesn't Stay in Egypt

Genesis 16:1-4
Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name [was] Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

Abram's weakness originated in his reliance upon himself and logic instead of God's mysterious plan. (When ye think ye stand, take heed lest ye fall).
What may people call faith, God calls sin and doubt.
Abram made two damning mistakes:
1- He listened to the voices around him instead of listening to the voice of God.
2- He put his faith into the hands of his own works/actions (he attempted to help God help him)

But the root of doubt began some where else... An overlooked mistake years before. It didn't start with fornication... It started with a lack of faith in Abram's surroundings. God's original covenant was based upon leaving his country and family and going into a land that God would give him... Abram obeyed and dwelled in Canaan. But like so many of us, Abram must have expected it to be a peaceful process from the inception of the call and obedience.

Famine, family and circumstances were not supposes to be part of the promise.
And in an ultimate weakness Abram left the promises of God and went into Egypt.
Self preservation is a powerful factor.

Abram was allowed through grace to return into God's covenant and promises... But it was not without bringing baggage with him. Many people have testimonies of the redeeming ability of Jesus in their lives but they also have outward scars of the missteps along the journey. Sometimes wounds heal and other times they fester.

Hagar was an infection to God's plan.

When we are called out of darkness into the light of Christ we must stay in the light as He is in the light and let the blood of Jesus cleanse us of all sins, scars, and wounds. If not they will be our weakness and point of venerability.

Still: Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Shall scars or deformities? Disease or wounds? Mistakes or faithlessness?

Nay, in all this weakness, our God says I do.