Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, "Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?" And Abraham said to God, "O that Ishmael might live in your sight!" God said, "No, but your wife Sarah shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him."

Genesis 17:18-19

God is a God of possibilities! If you ever doubted that, look again at these verses. Imagine Abraham at 100 years old and Sarah at 90 finding out that they would have a baby. What a shock. Impossible!

God didn’t stop with the impossible becoming possible. God did even more. God made a promise, a covenant, that would be established with this child and passing on to all the generations that followed him. And because of Christ, we, too, are children of Abraham by way of Isaac. That means that God’s covenant extends to us as well. God in Christ promises His Eternal presence with us. We would be impossibly hopeless sinners if it were not for Jesus who makes it possible for God to forgive and love us just as we are.

God promises that even in the impossibilities of life, His love for us will not be thwarted. He will not desert us or turn His back on us. Not   ever!

Thank you, God, for sending your Son so that we live as forgiven sinners with the promise of your love and presence with us always. Amen.

The Rev. Linda N. Hatcher is Chaplain at Artman.