God has already promised Abram land (12:7, 13:14-15) and numerous descendants (13:16). Abram’s descendants would possess the land as a great nation (12:2). Finally, in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed (12:3). In today’s passage, God formalizes and expands his promises as a covenant with Abram:

• Abrahamic Covenant – God reaffirms his promises of land (15:7, 18-20) and descendants (15:4-5). Abram will not only become a great nation, but is renamed Abraham, the father of many nations (17:4-6). As a sign of the covenant, all males were to be circumcised (17:9-14). Finally, Abraham was to walk blamelessly before God (17:1-2). How is your walk before God?
• Abram’s faith – In response to God’s promises, Abram believes, and it is counted to him as righteousness (15:6). This verse is quoted 4 times in the New Testament (Romans 4:3, 22; Galatians 3:6, and James 2:23). We cannot be righteous on our own, but when we believe God’s promise, God declares us righteous in his sight. God has promised us salvation through Jesus. Have you come to believe God’s promise? If so, you are righteous (pure, clean) in his sight!
• Abram “helps God out” – Since Sarai has had no children, she and Abram come up with a plan to help God out – through Sarai’s servant Hagar. Rather than follow God, they take things into their own hands. Are there areas in your life where you are moving ahead of God rather than following? When are you tempted to help God out?

God calls Abram to leave his country and family and go to a land God will show him. God promises to bless him and make him into a great nation. Notice:

• Abram’s faith – Abram believes God and goes. He doesn’t know what the land will be like or how he can become a great nation, but he believes God and obeys. Has God been calling you to do something? Will you trust him and obey? Is your life a struggle? Will you trust God and press on? Are you facing persecution for doing what is right? Will you trust God and continue?
• Abram’s lack of faith – In Egypt, Abram chooses to lie about his wife rather than trust God with his safety. Are there areas in your life where you are failing to trust God?
• Abram’s prayer life – As Abram travels through Canaan, he eventually comes to Bethel. There he builds an altar to the Lord and calls upon the name of the Lord (12:8). Later after a lapse of faith in Egypt, he returns to Bethel and again calls on the name of the Lord. What is your prayer life like?
• God’s blessing – God promised to bless Abram, and he does. God graciously intervenes in Egypt. God delivers Abram’s enemies into his hands when his enemies took Lot captive. How has God been there to help you?

Following the flood, God makes a covenant and gives instructions – instructions which the people of Babel refused to obey in their quest for glory. Observe:

• God’s covenant – God makes a covenant with Noah and his descendants (including us!). He mercifully promises to never flood the entire earth again. He places a rainbow in the sky as a sign of this covenant. Next time you see a rainbow, remember God’s mercy to you.
• God’s instructions broken – God commanded people to fill the earth (9:1), but the people of Babel disobeyed. They began building a city, lest they “be dispersed over the face of the whole earth” (11:4). Search your life. Are there any ways in which you are in active rebellion against God’s commands? This is a dangerous place to be! Take time now to repent and confess your sin to God.
• A quest for glory – The people of Babel wanted to make a name for themselves (11:4). They chose to live for themselves rather than God. Nothing much has changed. People today still want to make a name for themselves rather than honor God. Whose name are you seeking to lift up? Who are you living for?

God sends a flood on the earth, but saves Noah and his family. Consider what we learn about God and Noah, and how we should respond:

• God’s judgment – God hates sin. He sees the evil intentions, thoughts, and actions of mankind, and he purposes to make an end of it. Are you tempted to treat your sins lightly? Remember God hates your sin.
• God’s mercy – God shows favor to Noah (6:8), by making a covenant with him (6:18). In the midst of the flood, God remembers Noah (8:1). And God still shows his favor today by inviting us to enter into a new covenant through faith in Jesus Christ. Have you passed from God’s judgment into his mercy?
• Noah’s walk with God – The passage tells us that Noah walked with God (6:9). What did this walk look like? It was characterized first by faith. Noah believed God’s announcement of the flood and the way of escape. We could reasonably conclude from 5:32 and 7:6, that Noah spent 100 years acting on that faith by building the ark. His faith led to action. Twice we are told Noah did all that God commanded him (6:22, 7:5). His walk with God also gave him a testimony – he was a righteous man, blameless in his generation (6:9). He was not perfect, but he stood out from all the evil going on around him. How is your walk with God? Is it characterized by faith leading to action? How is your testimony among the people you know? How do you need to move forward in your walk with God?

Genesis 3 is the saddest story ever penned, as mankind rebels against their Creator. Notice:

• Satan tempts Eve to question God’s goodness and honesty. When are you tempted to question God’s goodness and the truth of His Word?
• Eve chooses to seek satisfaction (“good for food…delight to the eyes”) in forbidden fruit rather than in her Creator and the good things he gave her. What forbidden fruit tempts you?
• Rather than give glory to God, Eve chooses to seek her own glory (“you will be like God”). Whose glory are you seeking?
• Sin brings misery, not satisfaction. Their perfect relationship with God is broken (they hide from God and are cast out of the Garden). Their perfect relationship with each other is broken (Adam blames Eve; later Cain kills Abel). Pain enters God’s creation (childbearing will be painful). Work which was a joy now becomes toilsome, as creation is cursed with decay and thistles. Separated from the tree of life, Adam and Eve will die, as will their descendants (note the terrible repetition in chapter 5 – “…and he died”). When tempted by sin, remember the consequences.
• And yet in this sad story of our fall into sin, there is a small seed of hope in 3:15. Satan will bruise the heel of the woman’s offspring on a cross many years later. There on that cross, this man will defeat Satan by bruising his head. The penalty for sin will be paid, so that mankind might yet walk with God!