In Genesis 17 God pays a visit to Abram.
"I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers."
Abram did what was appropriate: he fell facedown.
"And God said to him, 'As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendantss after you; and I will be their God.'"
I can imagine Abraham thinking, 'Alright! This is good. I like the sound of that.' Then God continues and reveals Abram's part of the covenant.
"As for you, you must keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is My covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between Me and you. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner -- those who are not your offspring..."
Wow. I'm sure it was immediately clear to Abraham what God was asking for him to do. We see no real questioning of this part. Some scholars say that this sign of the covenant was kind of similar to the "so-be-unto-me" style covenant that God made to Abram in chapter 15, where He walked between two slaughtered animals. The custom was to walk between the separated parts as a symbolic way of saying, "So be unto me if I don't keep this covenant." By cutting off his foreskin, the man is saying, "So be unto me if I don't keep this covenant." With both symbols/signs, it's a way of saying, "I get cut up if I don't keep this promise."
"God also said to Abraham, 'As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a song by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.'"
Abraham again fell facedown, but then he started laughing, saying to himself,
'Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old (he was 99 at this time)? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?' And Abraham said to God, 'If only Ishmael might live under Your blessing!' Then God said, 'Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.' When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
Abraham took Ishmael and all the males in his household and had them circumcised. It's interesting that God allowed slavery to continue by not forbidding it. It's also interesting how He changed His tune a little bit in how He talked about Ishmael, no longer specifically called a person that everyone will be against. It's kind of cool that God changed Abram and Sarai's names, kind of like giving them a new birth or a born-again experience -- a fresh start. It's also cool that God asked Abram to walk blamelessly before him, as if it were possible, which I believe it is.
I think there is a fine balance between arrogance and false humility. On one hand, each of us must come to a point of broknenness, where we realize that we are nothing, we are trash, we are pieces of poop before God and His holiness. We need Him. We are lost without Him. We should never lose sight of this aspect of our identity. But God also gives us a new identity. All things are made new. We are reborn and given a fresh start, as well as an incarnate-like relationship with one member of the Godhead -- the Holy Spirit. If we wallow in our fallen nature, we can never walk in newness of life. Somehow we must appropriate this gift and walk in blamelessness.
I'm not saying that we'll stroll in holy perfection the rest of our lives, but with the gift that is the grace of God, we can obey God and walk blameless before Him. When we walk this way, we do it knowing it is a gift from Him and not our own strength. And when we fail, we face up to it in true humility and offer thanks that we can get up and start fresh again. The cycle could possibly wear someone out that loses touch with the love behind the grace. But by staying in touch with that magical love from God, somehow we can maintain this balance of walking with the Living God.