Learning From the Old Testament Greats: Abraham – The Father of FaithSample

Day 6: Circumcision – Sign of God’s Covenant

Thoughts on the Passage

Circumcision – Abraham’s portion of the covenant with God.

God required this of every male who would be part of the covenant with God in His covenant with Abraham. I see two reasons for circumcision. 

First, it was God marking the source of man’s reproduction, declaring His ownership of all Abraham’s seed. Second, I see it as a scarring of the beauty of the man’s body,  the cost of being His servant. It is something that the other cultures would not do to the human body as they tended to worship the human body. Whatever the reason, it marked God’s people as separate from the people around them.

Just a quick note – God included Ishmael in this covenant. Many see Ishmael as outside God’s covenant blessing as it will come through Isaac. God includes him.

God takes great effort to assure Abraham that Isaac, born of Sarah, would be the one through whom the covenant would flow. Abraham wanted his firstborn son, Ishmael, to be the one to receive the promised covenant. God is adamant; it must come through Sarah directly. We need to see something special here. 

We think about the promise to Abraham – the child of the covenant would be his, but God is equally strong in declaring the promise going to Sarah. She must be the mother of the child of promise. Abraham’s other children would be blessed because they were his children, but Sarah must be the mother. Her child was the child of destiny.

Application to our Lives

Men, it is not just about us. It is also God’s promise of blessing to our wives. Remember to see these women as the source of our blessing, just as Sarah released it to Abraham. 

How has God marked us to demonstrate His ownership of our lives and destiny? It could be a great deliverance, a great healing or miracle, a physical defect or illness, or a physical limitation. Is it a mark that we willingly carry so that God’s glory is revealed through us?

Time to Pray

Father, sometimes I underestimate the people You have given to me – to release my destiny. It is my wife, it is key people around me, it is the children you give to me. Forgive me for thinking it is only about me and my faithful walk with You.  You have also marked me. I have limitations, things I wished You would remove. Instead it is my mark that identifies me as special; the way You created me. Help me to not be ashamed of these limitations and weaknesses. Instead, let me thank You for them, and let me proudly declare that they are Your special mark given to me to direct glory to You in my own special way. In Jesus name, Amen.