Daily Devotion with Pastor Tong Liu: Today's Passage

Acts 7:8-16

"Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs. Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt... After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our fathers died. Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money."

God has given Abraham two kinds of promises, one is the promise of a son, and the other is the promise of land. Abraham believed in these two promises by faith: He believed in the promise of land, so he left Ur; he also believed in the promise of a son, so he changed his name of Abraham, which means father of many nations. It's one thing to believe something by faith, but to actually see it happen is a different matter. When it comes to offspring, God promised to give Abraham a son when he was 75 years old, but didn't actually give him the son till he was 100 years old. It was a difficult process; during the time of waiting, Sarah gave her servant Hagar to Abraham as his concubine and she gave birth to a son named Ishmael. Abraham treated Ishmael as his own son and thought that Ishmael was the offspring that God gave him, but God told Abraham that only a son from Sarah would be his real offspring.

When we received God's promise, we often try every possible way to help God to fulfill His promise. The reality is that God's way is always better than our way and His will is greater than our will. Sarah was already 90 years old, so according to our thinking it was impossible for her to give birth, but God's promise could still be fulfilled! When Abraham was 100 years old, Sarah gave birth to a son and he was named Isaac. From this scripture passage, we see that Isaac had sons of Jacob and Esau, and from Jacob came twelve sons, who are the ancestors of the twelve tribes. When they were still in Egypt, there were already 75 people in the family. This clan kept on expanding because God was indeed faithful!

In your life, have you witnessed the faithfulness of God? Do you believe in the promises made by God? Before God's promise is fulfilled, can you persist and not rely on your own way or depend on your own cleverness, but to solely wait upon God? May God help us to wait upon Him!

Pray with Pastor Tong

Lord, I thank you because you are faithful, and you often use surprising ways to help us. We come before you once again to wait upon you, and we believe in your word and promise. Please let your promises be fulfilled in our lives. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!