This week’s reading: Genesis 15:1-21
Hi Friends,
When we sense that God has given us a promise, He usually will plant that promise as a seed within our hearts. Not sure if you’ve noticed, but seeds take time to grow. This requires much patience, but it is also an excellent way for God to grow our Faith as well. Here we will read how Abram is struggling a bit with God’s pledge that he would have descendants as countless as the dust of the earth. God had given him this promise back in chapter 12:1-3, and 12:7 and then again in 13:15-16 and a whole lot has happened since then. This is one of the reasons the Bible is so relevant no matter what the current culture: human nature is human nature, and we all go through similar things like Abram is going through in this week’s reading. We try to figure out God’s Plan ahead of time, before that seed even has an opportunity to begin growing, and we get very confused when we see “nothing.” God is never put off by our questions, He welcomes them. The problem comes when we get impatient and give up on God, then decide to try to bring His promise about ourselves….but that’s for next week. Here we will be discussing Genesis chapter 15, that’s verses 1 through 21. Listen to Abram’s honest prayer, that reflects his uncertainty:
“But Abram said, ‘O Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?’ And Abram said, ‘You have given me no children: so a servant in my household will be my heir.’” Gen 15:2-3 NIV
Lord, do You remember what You promised me? One of the reasons the Faith of Abram is considered a standard for humanity is because he had merely heard the voice of God, and instantly obeyed. When God said to leave his father’s household and go to a place God would show him, Abram believed and uprooted his family, possessions and life to follow this God. My study Bible says, “The surprising thing is that Abram never saw a Bible, had no church, possessed no creed, took no sacrament, heard not even one of the Ten Commandments and knew little about life after death. Yet Abram’s faith shows us what matters. He heard the voice of God and dared to simply believe he could trust him when he spoke.” (Quest Study Bible p20) Abram dared to believe God! How lovely! And this is what Faith requires, to step out without any proof, simply because we choose to trust God. You see, the issue here is not whether Abram had Faith in God. But like most of us, the problem is in waiting for what God promised. Too often we think when we sense something like this from God, He means to immediately bring it to pass. Sadly for us impatient children, God often means in the future. In the meantime, what God in His brilliance does, is mature us spiritually so that we can handle that promise when He manifests it. I know this has been the case several times in my life. I sense God telling me He will do this or that, but then it takes years for the thing to happen and, like Abram here, I begin to question if I heard God right. See the difference though? Abram is not doubting that God promised those blessings to him. What he is doing though is wondering if he misunderstood what God said. Were these descendants going to come from from his own body or from his servant? As we have discussed before, in Biblical times, genealogies were very important. To preserve a family name, someone had to inherit from the head of the household. But what happened if that man did not have children? Again from my study Bible, the explanation clearly shows that Abram’s nephew, Lot, could not inherit in the name of Abram because Lot’s lineage would be from his own father, Haran, Abram’s brother. “The genealogies could list only one as Lot’s father. The customs of the times allowed a servant to be adopted as heir.” (Quest Study Bible p20) This is why Abram is questioning God here, to see if this is what God has in mind, to give him descendants from his servant, although we can see in his heart, that he was really hoping that God meant a physical child from him and Sarai. As I mentioned above, God is never put off by our questions. This is the best thing we can do with any doubt, bring it to God and talk it over with Him Who has the Plan for our lives. Trouble comes when we doubt God or the dreams He may have placed in our hearts, and we push away from Him and get angry that things are not working out the way WE had imagined. The issue is always that we see things in a limited scope while God views all of Humanity from the lens of Eternity. His Way, Plan and Timing are always perfect. Ours, like us, is so imperfect that can often lead to more problems instead of resolving any, if we are determined to follow our own plan. Again, more next week on that. But when we come to God and openly confess our confusion, as Abram is doing here, even if God does not clarify what will happen, which He often does not, God does grow our heart to be more patient, and He deepens our Faith as we choose to hold on to God and trust Him further. “Trust Me further, Child” is probably the phrase I most often sense when I pray to God, second only to “I love you and I will never leave you nor forsake you,” of course. Just a tiny word from God, whether we sense His voice within or He leads us to a verse in His Word that speaks to us, is enough to keep us moving forward. Or it should be. This is how God grows Abram’s Faith, and it is how ours grows as well. We choose to dig in deeper with God and our Faith gets stronger than ever before. This is what God desires anyway.
I do remember what I promised you. Abram receives confirmation and a little more clarity from God about His promise to Abram and his family. “Then the word of the Lord came to him: ‘This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” (Gen 15:4) First God tells Abram he will be blessed and all the earth will be blessed through him. Then God says that his descendants will be far too many to count. And now, God gives Abram another piece of the promise by emphasizing that the child would come from Abram physically. Yet verse 6 is both beautiful and key here: “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” (Gen 15:6) God did not do anything except repeat the promise, and Abram was satisfied with that. He deepened his trust in this God that was leading him step by step, and for that, God stamped the name “righteous” on Abram’s heart. God was so pleased with Abram’s sincere Faith that He elevated his position to be in right standing with God. In other words, Abrams posture of humility changed his position before God. God chose to no longer hold any sinfulness of Abram against him. In God’s eyes, Abram was blameless. Recall how I made such a big deal about Noah being described this way in Genesis 6:9? To be considered righteous in the eyes of God is THE game changer. The only way to achieve this unachievable feat is by placing our Faith fully on God, especially whether we understand what He is doing or not. It is God’s Grace, joined with this Faith, that alters our eternal destiny. (Eph 2:8) And while we will see Abram is still not perfect in his actions, his heart is pure as gold to God. God will continue to grow Abram. God will continue to bring challenges to Abram so he may have opportunities to display his deep Faith. And God will show you and me what it takes to have real, life transforming Faith through the life Abram, and Sarai, choose to live. Because of the Father’s Love and the sacrificial work of the Son, you and I are called righteous the moment we surrender our lives to Jesus also. And instantly our eternity is Heaven-bound. And while we are still on this planet, God will do for us what he did for Abram, God will grow us into the likeness of Jesus, His Perfect Son. Once we are saved, the trials we face are meant to mature us to the point where we will display this righteousness God has given us at our rebirth. Like Abram, sometimes we get it right, sometimes we will get it wrong, but it never affects this righteousness we have been given. Our Eternity is secure in Christ because no one, not even Abram, gets to go to Heaven because of our own good works. It is only receiving The Good Work of Jesus that opens that door for us, as well as seals our future in the Holy Spirit. God certainly does remember what He promised Abram, even though Abram wonders if he heard God wrong. And here God confirms the promise by granting Abram the status of righteousness. And just to make sure Abram’s doubts are wiped away, God has Abram perform an interesting ritual to mark this covenant.
We are one. Have you ever seen a jewelry charm that is a heart cut in two pieces where, when you join both pieces together, it makes one whole heart? (see picture above) This is the picture I get in my mind with this strange ceremony God initiates with Abram next. God not only renews His promise to give Abram descendants as many as the stars in the sky (Gen 15:5), but He also reminds Abram that the land he is currently traveling through, will also belong to his offspring. Again, Abram is open and honest with God wondering how he could be sure. God then tells him to gather some animals as a sacrifice, to cut them in half, and then arrange each half opposite each other. In that time, this was part of the custom when two parties made a contract. If any party broke the contract, then their actions would kill the deal. I am certainly no theologian, and I do not claim to be a Bible scholar by any means, yet let me share with you the way I see these verses, because it helps me apply this ritual to my own life, and I hope it will make more sense to you too. When we become born again, we are one with God, united to God forevermore through His Holy Spirit. Think that piece of jewelry I talked about before coming together and forming the one whole heart. Yet at the same time, we are also immature children of God, who must continue to grow into this New Identity, this righteousness we now have in Christ. That means, many times we will still act opposite of the way God would act, right? Now envision that whole heart charm being separated into the two pieces again. Just like these sacrificial animals are separated and placed opposite each other, we would be opposite God in our actions. But, thankfully, this event does not stop here. Stick with me as I spell out my understanding. So after arranging the sacrifice, we read that, “Then the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.” (Gen 15:11) Next, Abram falls into a deep, fitful and disturbed sleep where God tells, and perhaps even shows Abram in a dream, that his descendants will indeed take possession of the land, but first they will suffer greatly in a foreign land for 400 years. Let me continue with what I get from these verses. So I see those “birds” as the three enemies we have that are always trying to pick at us, reminding us of the dead carcass we used to be apart from God. But as we choose to lean on the Holy Spirit, we can drive those enemies away, like Abram does in the verse above. In order to be one with God, we must allow Him to move us closer and closer to His side as He moves us from living like who we used to be, towards who we now are in Christ. See the two jewelry pieces coming closer and closer together here. Now let me add the next verse before I pull this all together: “When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram.” (Gen 15:17-18) The Bible often uses the image of fire as a symbol for God’s Presence. As we let this blazing torch, the fire within which is our growing passion and love for God, it is His very Presence within our newborn spirit, that seals our covenant with God for Everlasting Life. It is the Presence of God through the Holy Spirit that unites those two pieces, God and our New Person, together as one. As we connect with God via the Holy Spirit, we are working with Him to act more according to our New Identity in Christ, as we let go of our old ways. (see Jn 3:30) And the more we become aware of this connection, the more He will help us display our New Identity, revealing that we are one with God. We will no longer be two on opposite sides of each other, but one as we learn to think, speak and act like Jesus would. While unlike Jesus we will never be God’s exact representation, with this smoking firepot of Love and Grace within us, we can learn to be more and more like Him. This oneness with God is what should distinguish us from the lost world, and hopefully, draw them to God too. Through whatever trials God in His Omniscience allows, and through all the blessings He deliberately brings, we will become more and more one with Him. God grows us into the original person we were meant to be, made in His Image. (see Gen 1:27) This was, and still is, God’s Plan. We see this in the life of Abram, and hopefully, we will begin to sense it in our own lives too.
A Promise is a promise. What should be so inspiring, and relieving also, is that the promise of God is not dependent on Abram, nor is it dependent on you or me either. When God says He is going to do something, even when we might think it is taking too long, or when we are not sure how God will bring it about, God is faithful to bring that promise to fulfillment. Notice how God gave Abram the promise first, then when Abram chose to believe it, God also granted him the lovely title of “righteousness.” God does the same for every believer. Jesus has already died to pay the price for our sin. More over, He resurrected as proof that “It is finished.” (see Jn 19:30) Had Jesus not come back from death victorious, we would have no way to really know if God’s promise of Salvation could be ours. Sadly, way too many Christians still worry about their Eternity once they have sincerely surrendered in Faith to Christ. If this is you, please let God clear away any doubts in your heart. Bring any questions to God, He would love to speak with you. And as God’s Word says, know beyond a doubt that, once you are His, you are His. And the reason we can be assured is because God Himself will make sure we continue to walk in His Love, grow in His Grace and reveal His Glory to the world around us. The promise is not that we will go to Heaven some day, when our time here is done. The Promise is God Himself, living in, with and through us. Since we have God, the Holy Spirit abiding in union with our regenerated spirit, we can also choose to use the mind of Christ, which we also now have, so that we can enjoy this life, on the way to the next life. (see 1Co 2:16) We can live a life that reflects this wonderful God more and more and in that way share Him with everyone around us. We must be honest with God and lay down any doubts and questions we may have about our journey with Him. And we also must be honest with those around us, reminding them that we are not the Perfect One, only God is. But by His Grace, we are forgiven and being transformed into His image glory by glory, step by step, one trial and/or joy by the next. This honesty will hopefully help those who may not yet know God to not look at us, but through us, to Jesus. This honesty will hopefully draw them to seek and find their own personal relationship with God. This honesty will hopefully lead to changing their eternal destiny too. That’s the Plan anyway. And the more I surrender to God- spirit, soul and body- the more His Promise becomes real in my life, and my life becomes more and more abundant. Want that too? Then won’t you join me?
Until we meet again, keep lifting your eyes to God, He’s closer than you think.
<>< Peace, Diane
