Wednesday, May 6, 2026
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Genesis 16-18
Key Verse
Genesis 17:23 — “And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.”
Devotional Thought
What does this passage ask of you today? Perhaps it asks you to stop striving and start trusting. In Genesis 16, Sarai grows weary of waiting on God’s promise, so she takes matters into her own hands and gives her Egyptian handmaid Hagar to Abram. The result is jealousy, cruelty, and a fleeing servant weeping in the wilderness. Yet even there, by a fountain on the road to Shur, the angel of the LORD finds Hagar and speaks words that still astonish: “Thou God seest me.” She names the well Beerlahairoi, the well of the Living One who sees. God had not forgotten the woman everyone else had overlooked.
Thirteen years pass. Then in Genesis 17, God appears again to Abram, now ninety-nine, and declares, “I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.” He changes Abram’s name to Abraham, Sarai’s to Sarah, and seals His covenant with circumcision—a mark in the flesh of an everlasting promise. Abraham laughs at the thought of a child at a hundred, and Sarah laughs too in Genesis 18, hidden behind the tent door. But God answers the laughter with a question that echoes through every impossible season: “Is any thing too hard for the LORD?”
Notice the hospitality of Genesis 18—Abraham running to meet three strangers in the heat of the day, washing their feet, hurrying Sarah to knead meal, fetching a tender calf. And notice the boldness that follows: Abraham drawing near to plead for Sodom, bargaining down from fifty righteous to ten. This is the friendship God invites us into—not passive waiting, but honest, reverent conversation with the Judge of all the earth.
As spring deepens into May, gardens are planted and nothing seems to be happening underground. That is the life of faith. God’s promises often lie buried longer than we would like, and our Hagar schemes and Sarah laughs reveal how small we think He is. Yet the God who saw Hagar in the wilderness sees you. The God who asked, “Is any thing too hard for me?” still asks it. Wait on Him. Walk before Him. He keeps covenant.
Reflection
- Where are you tempted, like Sarai, to manufacture God’s promise by your own effort rather than wait on His timing?
- When you laugh at what God has said because it seems impossible, how does His question—“Is any thing too hard for the LORD?”—meet you today?
Prayer
Almighty God, Thou who seest me, look upon me as Thou didst look upon Hagar in the wilderness. Forgive my scheming and my unbelief, the times I have taken what was not mine to take and laughed at what Thou hast promised. Teach me to walk before Thee and be perfect, trusting Thy covenant more than my circumstances. Make me hospitable to strangers and bold in prayer, like Abraham who pleaded for Sodom. Remember Thy promise, O Lord, and do for me what only Thou canst do, for nothing is too hard for Thee. In the name of Jesus, Amen.