Abraham learns to trust God, but only after making some mistakes along the way.
Abram, later renamed by God as ‘Abraham’, along with Sarai (later called Sarah), saw an opportunity to help God achieve the promise, but that was not good…
POLO: Abram was an old man of eighty-five years when God said to Abram:
GOD: Your very own son shall inherit from you. Step outside and look at the stars. Can you count them? So shall your children and your children’s children be!
PRISCILLA: Wow! That’s a huge family!
POLO: Yes, unfortunately, both he and his wife, Sarai, thought God was delaying too long and needed a quick fix. So Sarai had this idea.
MAURICE: Yes, she had a female Egyptian servant named Hagar.
GABY: And Sarai said that Abram should start a family through Hagar!
MAURICE: But when Hagar became pregnant, Sarai was jealous and angry. So she began to beat Hagar, and she fled into the wilderness.
GABY: But an angel found her and told her that she was to name the child ‘Ishmael’ and he would become a thorn in the side of many people. The angel also told her to return to Sarai.
POLO: Their plan had not worked, and God left it fourteen more years.
PRISCILLA: What?! That made Abram ninety-nine years old!
POLO: The Lord said to Abram:
GOD: I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless.
GABY: Abram fell onto the ground and did not dare look up at God!
GOD: No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. And I will give to you and to your children’s children the land you have travelled to, the land of Canaan, for all time, and I will be their God.
GABY: God continued to talk to Abraham:
GOD: No longer call your wife ‘Sarai, but call her Sarah. I will bless her, and give her a son.
GABY: Abraham laughed and said to himself:
MAURICE: Really? I am now one hundred years old, and Sarah is ninety! Surely you are talking about Ishmael!
GOD: No! Sarah, your wife, will give birth to a son in one year, and you shall call him Isaac. My promises to you will pass to Isaac and his children. I will indeed bless Ishmael and make him into a nation, but I am telling you about Isaac!
POLO: Exactly a year later, Sarah gave birth to a son, and they named him…
PRISCILLA: Isaac!
MAURICE: Sarah was over the moon with excitement, and she said:
GABY: God has given me joy and laughter, and everyone who hears my news will laugh with me. Who would have dared to suggest that God provided us with a child in our old age!
POLO: In part three, God sets a massive test for Abraham.
Link to Podbean podcast.