“When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him. “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly” (Genesis 17:1,2).
First of all, we see that God reveals Himself to Abram as “I am God Almighty.” The Scripture also tells us in another place that “God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty” (Exodus 6:2,3). In Hebrew God Almighty means “El Shaddai,” which is one of the names of God that means “The All-sufficient One.”
God is all-sufficient in power, authority, wisdom, knowledge, understanding, grace, love, and mercy. This means that there is absolutely nothing too hard for God. Keep in mind, Abram was ninety-nine years old when the LORD appeared to him and said “walk before me, and be blameless.” If Abram obeyed, God would work mightily through him to accomplish His purposes.
It is most interesting how God keeps His word and how He works in the lives of His children. In His promises to Abram, God even changed Abram’s name to Abraham. The Scripture says, “Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him. Behold, my covenant is with you and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 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” (Genesis 17:3-5). The list of promises God made to Abraham is recorded in Genesis chapter 17.
There is sound reason why God requested that Abraham should “walk before me and be blameless.” In context, God required Abraham’s obedience and commitment in order for God’s promises to be fulfilled through Abraham. God told him, “Behold my covenant is with you” (Genesis 17:4). There has to be obedience and commitment for God to perform His will and purpose in and through us. God told Israel, “Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people” (Jeremiah 7:23).
Because of God’s all-sufficiency, Christians should never at anytime or in any way doubt or under estimate what God is able to do. God is omnipotent and exalted in power. Job said of God, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2). God can do much more that we ask or think. “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20).
God promised Abraham and his wife Sarah a son. Abraham did not take God’s promise seriously. He doubted and laughed, thinking it was impossible. “Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child” (Genesis 17:17). Didn’t God keep His promise, even though Abraham doubted? He sure did. And Isaac was born to parents one hundred years and ninety years old, respectively. Have in the God of the Scriptures. To everyone believes and to all who obey God keeps His promise forever.
In his sermon on Mars Hill, the apostle Paul said that God “is actually not far from each one of us, for in him we live and move and have our being; as even some of your own poets have said, For we are indeed his offspring” (Acts 17:27,28). The Christian who resolves to “walk before God and is blameless” is the person who enjoys communion and fellowship with God Almighty. And the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is indeed our God yesterday, today, tomorrow, and forever. Let us therefore be faithful and consistent in our worship and service to Him. “The God of Abraham praise, Who reigns enthroned above; Ancient of everlasting days, And God of love; Jehovah, great I AM! By earth and heaven confessed; I bow and bless the sacred name, Forever blest.”