Almighty God

Gen 17:1b "I am almighty God; walk before me and be blameless."

Thirteen years later, God appears to Abram again with a reminder: "I am almighty God." In other words, Abram, you took the responsibility out of my hands and did it your way and there has been nothing but strife. Hagar and Sarai can't stand each other, Ishmael is going to be trouble, and it is all because you forgot something: "I am almighty, most powerful God". If Abram would have known that, or remembered that, or applied that he and Sarai would not have developed their scheme to create a family through Hagar. They would have sat back and watched God work. But they didn't consider who God was. They only considered who they were and it gave them tunnel vision. They could only see the impossibility in front of them. They did not see the bigger picture that God was all powerful and could do whatever He wanted. There are no limits with Him and He was about to prove it, when Abram was 99 years old.

God did not leave it at that, however. He reminded Abram who he was also. "I am almighty God, (therefore) walk before me and be blameless." Or "Go with Me. Move with Me. Do what I do. Follow My lead. Don't try to figure it out on your own. Watch Me and live a blameless, innocent life of integrity." God was reminding Abram that He was all powerful and Abram was not. Not only that but Abram was not perfect, so he had to walk with God and live a life of integrity.

I think that this is where we all get screwed up. We don't live lives of integrity, we don't live lives of innocence, we don't live righteous lives because we forget who we are: broken down sinners… and we forget who God is: Almighty. If we/I could only remember "I am almighty God" it would change a lot in our lives. It would change what we do, what we say, what we think, how we treat others, where we go, what we stuff into our bodies, what we are committed to, how we spend our time…frankly, it would change every aspect of who we are and we would live blameless lives, before an Almighty God. The problem is, we also have tunnel vision and think about ourselves and not who God is. Because of this, our lives get screwed up. The consequences of our words and actions stink. And we limit what God wants to do through us.

I am convinced that these verses are true: "For we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do." Eph 2:10 and "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us." Eph 3:20 What does God want to do through me? Where am I limiting Him? Where am I forgetting that He is Almighty God? God worked in Abram (now Abraham) at 99. He can still use me at 56.