Welcome back! Did you miss BSF as much as I did? While it was nice to have a break, it’s also good to be back in the BSF routine.
Back in December, we left Abram after he rescued his nephew Lot by attacking and defeating King Kedorlaomer and his buddies.
In Chapter 15, God tells Abram, “Do not be afraid.” He might have had some fear in his heart, or maybe God was commending him and telling him that he didn’t need any earthly rewards because the God of the universe was on his side.
Abram goes on to pour out his disappointment to God about not having an heir. Abram is discouraged and confused. He didn’t doubt God’s promise but wondered how God would accomplish it. Notice how Abram shares his feelings with God. He approaches God respectfully. He acknowledges God’s sovereignty. He isn’t angry. He doesn’t complain. He doesn’t show a lack of trust. He is honest with God about his feelings. I also must pour out my concerns and desires to God. I shouldn’t hesitate to bring anything to God, but I must examine my heart and attitude when I share these deep feelings with God.
Since Abram didn’t have a son, he assumed his servant Eliezer would become his heir (a common practice during at the time). So God gets a little more specific about His promise. He tells Abram that he will have an heir from his own body, and his descendants will be as numerous as the stars.
In our leaders’ meeting, someone jokingly said that God should have specified that Sarai would be the boy’s mother! But I believe it’s pretty clear that God wanted Abram and Sarai to be the parents. (We’ll see how this situation turns bad next week!)
Verse 6 is Abram’s defining moment of faith. God credited righteousness to Abram through his faith. But it was more than faith that God would provide an heir. Abram also had faith that God would provide the ultimate descendant — He would provide a Messiah to save His people from their sins. Jesus Christ was both the Messiah and an offspring of Abram.
Faith in Christ is the only way to have a relationship with God. Do you have a relationship with God? Are you relying on your works to attain this relationship? Are you using God as your shield? Have you received God as your very great reward? Are you seeking earthly rewards from man or spiritual rewards from God? God is all I really need.
Abram didn’t doubt God’s promises, but he needed some assurance and confirmation. God leads a ceremony (popular in biblical times) that was used to seal a formal or legal agreement. Abram gathers the specific animals, as God directed him. He cuts them in half and lays them in mirror images across from each other, leaving a walkway between the sections.
God gives specifics of the agreement (all of these prophecies were fulfilled in the books of Genesis and Exodus):
- Abram’s descendants will be strangers in a country.
- They will be enslaved and mistreated for 400 years (four generations) but will come out with great possessions.
- The country that enslaves them will be punished greatly.
- Abram will not enter the land. He will die at peace and old age.
Then God appears as fire. Typically, both parties of the agreement would walk in the pathway through the animal pieces to show their dedication to the agreement. But here God is the only one who walks through the animals. This shows that the covenant is dependent only on God Himself. Abram can do nothing.
Then God goes one step further and gives a visual confirmation of His promise. He describes the boundaries of the land he has given to Abram and his descendants. God even names the people groups that currently are living in the land. Israel does not occupy this land today. But one day, God will fulfill this promise.
The bottom line is that God always keeps His promises. But we, like Abram, must act in obedience to show our faith and trust in God’s promises.
Being out of the BSF routine means that I completely forgot to get a video of Avery saying her verse! We’ll try it again next week.