Christian Reflection and Prayer

(Day 12 of Advent)

Scripture:

Read Genesis 17:15-19, 26:1-5. God said, "Sarah
your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his
name Isaac. I will establish My covenant with him as
an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him"
(Genesis 17:19).

Abram was 75 years old when God called him to
travel to a distant land. He promised to make a great
nation out of him-and from that nation to send His
Son to bless all nations. Abram obeyed God and
brought his wife Sarai along to the land of Canaan.
But for 25 more years they remained childless. Over
that long period of waiting God repeated His promise
to Abram again and again, changing his name to
Abraham and his wife's to Sarah.

But it was hard for Abraham and Sarah to wait so
long for God to keep His promise. At one point Sarah
decided to take matters into her own hands. She
gave her maidservant to Abraham that he might have
the child of promise through her. But the servant's
son Ishmael was not the child God had promised
Abraham. By God's mighty power Sarah herself
would give birth to the promised child. Finally, when
he was 100 years old, Abraham's 90-year-old wife
Sarah gave birth to Isaac, whose name means "he
laughs."

Like Abraham, the world had to wait a long time for
the birth of God's great Child of promise: Jesus
Christ, the Baby of Bethlehem. Every year we
celebrate His birth with great joy and laughter, and
we rejoice in the great blessings of peace,
forgiveness and eternal life He brought the world
through His life, death and resurrection.

THE PRAYER:

Holy Father, thank You for faithfully keeping Your
promise. Give me patience to wait for Jesus' second
coming, when You will restore all believers and
creation to complete perfection. In Jesus' Name.
Amen.

(Lutheran Hour Ministries)

(Day 11 of Advent)

Scripture:

Read Genesis 11:1-9, 12:1-3. In you all the families
of the earth shall be blessed (see Genesis 12:3).

After the flood Noah's children began to repopulate
the earth. But the flood didn't really change mankind's
fallen nature. Even while God was promising Noah He
would not send another flood because of man, He
noted, "the intention of man's heart is evil from his
youth" (see Genesis 8:21).

An episode in Genesis 11 illustrates this stubborn,
rebellious streak in mankind. God had commanded
Noah and his descendants to spread out after the
flood and fill the earth. But while migrating west, a
group of them decided not to keep spreading out, but
to stay together and make a name or reputation for
themselves. They began building a huge tower with
its top in the heavens. God confused their language
so they would not understand one another. As a result
they went out and spread across the earth.

Though they were spread out, history was slowly
repeating itself. Just like Seth's descendants before
the flood, the number of believers among Noah's
descendants began to plummet again. So the Lord
chose an unbelieving man named Abram. He called
him from worshiping idols and false gods to leave his
father's house and go to a land God would show him.
The Holy Spirit created faith in Abram, and he obeyed
God and went. The Lord promised to make him into a
great nation and bless every nation through his offspring.
Once again the promise of the Savior remained intact,
being passed down from generation to generation.

THE PRAYER: Lord God, Holy Father, by sheer grace
alone You called Abram to leave his home and follow
You. Give me such an obedient heart that I may leave
behind all temptations and sinful pursuits to love and
follow my Lord Jesus Christ. I pray in His Name. Amen

(Lutheran Hour Ministries).

Scripture:

Read Genesis 6: 1-8. TEXT: The Lord was sorry that
He had made man on the earth ... but Noah found favor
in the eyes of the Lord (see Genesis 6:6, 8).

Adam and Eve passed their sinful nature on to their
children. It wasn't long before this nature bore its
poisonous fruit. When God rejected the sacrifice offered
by their firstborn son Cain and accepted his brother's,
Cain murdered Abel. Though God protected him from
retaliation, Cain turned his back on God
(see Genesis 4:16) and taught his descendants, the
Cainites, to do the same.

Eve gave birth to another son named Seth through
whose descendants God promised to send His Son.
Sadly, most of Seth's descendants turned away from
God too, choosing to marry the ungodly Cainite women,
who led them away from God. By chapter six we read,
"The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great
in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of
his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was
sorry that He had made man on the earth, and it
grieved Him to His heart" (Genesis 6:5-6).

God decided to blot out man from the face of the land,
along with all the birds and land animals. But God
remembered His promise to Adam and Eve, and
looked in mercy on one of Seth's descendants. By the
power of the Holy Spirit, Noah still trusted God's
promise. Noah found favor with God because of this
Spirit-given faith, and was instructed to build an ark to
save his household and enough animals to repopulate
the world after the flood.

God would keep His promise to save mankind through
a distant descendant of Noah-the Child of Christmas.

THE PRAYER: 

Heavenly Father, our sinful nature is evil beyond our
recognition. Forgive us our sin and restore us through
Your Son Jesus. Amen.

(Lutheran Hour Ministries)