SAINT JOHN BAPTIST DE LA SALLE, PRIEST

I will maintain my covenant with you . . . to be your God. 

In today’s first reading, God makes a covenant with Abraham and promises him many things: that he would become the father of nations, that kings would stem from him, and that he would enter the Promised Land. Abraham didn’t see the complete fulfillment of these promises in his lifetime. He saw glimmers of them in the gift of his son, Isaac, but not much more. However, at the heart of God’s covenant with Abraham was the assurance of his everlasting love and presence. God promised he would never leave Abraham—and he didn’t. Through thick and thin, he remained faithful as Abraham’s God.

From Abraham’s descendants came a savior, Jesus Christ, who ushered in a new covenant of love. Now, not only do we have the assurance of God’s love and presence, but through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we have been forgiven and redeemed. And the glimmer of the fulfillment yet to come? One day, when he comes again, we will be raised with him!

So no matter the ups and downs we face in life, no matter how things appear, we know that God keeps his covenant promises. When things were difficult for Abraham—when he wondered how he could conceive a child in his old age and then when he was called to sacrifice that child—he believed that God was going to be faithful. He believed that somehow, though he couldn’t predict exactly how or when, God would show him his steadfast love and keep his word. That’s true for us as well.

This is what it means that God is covenanted to us: that though we might not know all the details or see everything unfold in our lifetime, God will continue to love us, forgive us, and walk with us. It’s this covenant love that helps us to persevere in those times when we are waiting and wondering about how God will respond to us.

There’s so much we can’t know about the future. There’s so much we can’t control. But we can stand on the certainty of God’s commitment to us. He is a God who “remembers his covenant for ever” (Psalm Response).

“Thank you, Lord, for your steadfast love!”

Psalm 105:4-9
John 8:51-59
Genesis 17:3-9