December 6

Genesis 12:1-9, 15:1-6, 21:1-7

12 1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. 9 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb…

15 1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great." 2 But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" 3 And Abram said, "Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir." 4 And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: "This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir." 5 And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." 6 And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness…

21 1 The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had promised. 2 And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, "God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me." 7 And she said, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."

Grant, Almighty God,
that as there is in us so little of right judgment,
and as our minds are blind even at midday –
O grant that Thy Spirit may always shine in us, and,
that being attentive to the light of Thy Word,
we may also keep to the right way through the whole
course of our pilgrimage, and subject to Thee
both ourselves and every action of our life,
so that we may not be led by any allurements into
the same ruin with the ungodly, who would deceive
and entrap us and who lie in wait on every side,
but that, being ruled by the counsel of Thy Spirit,
we may beware of all their intrigues.
And may we, especially as to our spiritual life,
be so given up to Thee alone, as ever to keep ourselves
far away from the defilements of all people,
and so remain in the pure worship of Thy majesty,
that the ungodly may never draw us away
into the same delusions with themselves,
by which Satan so mightily deceives them.
But may we follow Him as our leader whom Thou wouldst
have to be our ruler, even Christ Thy Son, until He
at length gathers us all into that celestial kingdom
He has purchased for us by His own blood. Amen.