Are You Believing the Covenant or the Contradiction?

            I’d like to begin today by looking at Genesis 17:1-5, NKJV.

       “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.”  Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.  No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.”
         
             Note first of all that God appeared to Abraham as El-Shaddai, God Almighty. Shaddai means the breasty one, the nurse, the full supply. In other words, the God of more than enough.
           
           Secondly, the man and woman God made the covenant with couldn’t fulfill their part of the promise. Abraham was one hundred years old. Sarah ninety and had been barren all her life. That’s the contradiction to the promise God  made to them. They couldn’t do it but God could.
           
           Thirdly, God said He had made, not would make, Abraham the father of many nations. It was a fait accompli.
           
           Next, I would like to look at what Paul wrote in Romans 4:16-20 NKJV.

         “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am El-Shaddai— ‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life.  I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants.”
 
         “At this, Abram fell face down on the ground. Then God said to him, “This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of a multitude of nations!  What’s more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram. Instead, you will be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations.

         “Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all  (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;  who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.”  And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.  He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God…”

         The key is found in verse seventeen – the” God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did…” Abraham didn’t look at the contradiction. He didn’t consider his own body or Sarah’s dead womb or age. He looked at the covenant and did not waver at the promise.

         I think as believers we often waver at the promise and concentrate on the contradiction. For example, if I am facing a financial need, do I look at my negative bank account or at God’s promise to provide for all my need according to His riches, which are limitless? (Philippian 4:19). If I am sick, do I look at my symptoms (the contradiction) or at the Word of God in Isaiah 53:5 NKJV, (the covenant): “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.” In the New Testament, Peter writes in 1 Peter 2:24 TPT, “He himself carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we would be dead to sin and live for righteousness. Our instant healing flowed from his wounding.”

​           As born-again Christians, we must not yield to the contradiction but stand firmly on the promise. We must be determined to stay on the God side of everything.