Daily Devotion

Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst

Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.


God Perseveres
Abram was ninety- nine years old when the LORD appeared to him again and said, "I am God All-Powerful. If you obey me and always do right, I will keep my solemn promise to you and give you more descendants than can be counted." Abram bowed with his face to the ground, and God said:
I promise that you will be the father of many nations. That's why I now change your name from Abram to Abraham. I will give you a lot of descendants, and in the future they will become great nations. Some of them will even be kings. I will always keep the promise I have made to you and your descendants, because I am your God and their God. I will give you and them the land in which you are now a foreigner. I will give the whole land of Canaan to your family forever, and I will be their God. - Genesis 17:1-8 CEV

Giving up is the easy way out. But it isn't God's way. God promised Abraham that he would have descendants who would become great nations with kings. The land of Canaan would be theirs.

The author of Genesis, writing after the exodus from Egypt, announced that it was Yahweh—translated as the word LORD in capital letters—who appeared to Abram when God promised him a son and changed his name to Abraham. Abram meant "exalted father," while Abraham meant "father of many." God changed Abram's name because Abraham would become the ancestor of more than one group of people, both the Jews and the Arabs.

The average life span is seventy years, give or take a bit. Abraham had to wait beyond a normal life span to receive what God had promised him. He had to wait until realistically all he had to look forward to was his own funeral. At that moment, however, God promised him a son. Abraham's descendants became the people of Israel—but not right away. Jacob's children would go to Egypt and have descendants who would be enslaved by Egypt for four hundred years.

Even after his people reached the promised land, God still would have to train them, leading them by prophet and punishment for centuries. It was not easy, and yet God never gave up on them. God persevered. He did not give up on Israel.

It is hard to keep working at a problem that never seems to be solved. Friends and family would probably support a decision to quit and turn back. They wouldn't want to see you suffer and be disappointed. But perseverance is a gift of God. Keep on going no matter how hard it is.