Years pass and Abram still has no son. God brings him outside and says, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He says, “So shall your descendants be.” Abram believes the LORD, and God accounts it to him for righteousness. The apostle Paul points to this verse in Romans 4 to show that we are made right with God by faith.
God then makes a covenant with Abram, promising the land to his descendants. But waiting is hard. Sarai gives her Egyptian handmaid Hagar to Abram, and Hagar bears a son, Ishmael. Trouble follows in the household. Yet when Hagar flees, the angel of the LORD finds her, and she calls Him “You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees.”
When Abram is ninety-nine years old, the LORD appears and says, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.” God changes his name from Abram to Abraham, “for I have made you a father of many nations.” Sarai becomes Sarah, and God promises that she will bear a son.
God gives circumcision as the sign of the covenant for Abraham and his household. The promise will come through Isaac, the son of Sarah, while God also promises to bless Ishmael. God keeps His word in His own time.