Passage: Genesis (14:17-24) 15:1-6
When Abram returned from defeating those many kings in war, and after he had met with Melchizedek, and after he had refused to accept the reward money from the king of Sodom, God came to Abram to make him a promise. This aging man had just risked his life to save his nephews life. And he had just turned away all the wealth of Sodom because he didn’t want the king of sinners to say he made the founder of faith rich.
And God comes to Abram, perhaps as he was thinking to himself, "I should have taken the money.... Why didn’t I take the money? Because I knew God wouldn’t have liked it." But I believe that the more Abram thought of it, the more he began to wonder if God was really going to fulfill his earlier promises to make him into a great nation.
In chapter 12 God had first come to Abram and promised him that he would be a great nation, and that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed. He had promised blessings to those who blessed him, and cursing to those that cursed him. Then again part way through chapter 12, God had again appeared to Abram and told him that the land he was living in would one day be his. Wonderful promises to be sure, but that was years ago, and what had Abram seen of them? Nothing.
Then in chapter 13, after sending Lot away, God again comes to Abram and promises him, that all the land he could see would be his. Now, here he is again, living as a stranger in a strange land. Having just given up a huge cash reward. Having no place to really call HOME, and having no children with whom to share what little blessings he did have.
Now, Just before he begins to despair, here comes God again appearing to him in Chapter 15, and verse 1.
Notice How God met Abraham’s current situation. He had just given up the reward money, and God says to him, "Abram, I AM YOUR SHIELD, I protected you in that battle, and I will protect you in the future. And as for your reward? Your reward will be very great indeed!"
I’m not sure how Abram felt about that promise, but I’m sure it answered the first questions in his mind. But Abram moves on to the real problem that’s been bothering him. He’s an old man, with no children.
His name means "exalted father" and he hasn’t got any children. What does Abram want with great rewards? What does an old man want with financial security when he hasn’t got a child to give it to?
Abram sighed, and bowed his head, and said, "O Lord God, what will you give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? Since you have given no offspring to me, [a servant] born in my house is my heir."
I wonder if you can note how deeply Abram is hurting, God’s been making promise after promise to him, and he has seen very little of their fulfillment. Abram is getting depressed.
He has plenty of livestock, and plenty of servants, but what he really wants is a son. Where is the son that God had promised him before?
But God is merciful and gentle. God doesn’t chastise Abram for doubting. Neither does he blast Abram for asking the hard question that was on his heart. Instead, he answers Abram’s deep need.
Another Promise.
That’s what Abram Got was another promise, but this promise wasn’t like the others. This promise came with an object lesson. God told Abram that an actual SON, not a servant would be his heir, then God took him outside.
Pulling back the tent flap and stepping into the cool night air, Abram was compelled by God to look up into the night sky. There scattered out before him in a dazzling display were thousands and thousands of stars. Some of them bright and clearly seen, many more of them, hazy and far off. Some of them large and bright white, others nearly invisible and milky.
"Count the stars Abram!" That’s how many descendants you’re going to have.
You see, Abram couldn’t count those stars, Abram couldn’t even begin to catalog them. The stars there were numerous, too numerous to count, and in fact we know, that many of them couldn’t even be seen with the naked eye. But for all the stars that Abram saw, this is the lesson that he understood.
Those stars had been laid out there by God. The Lord himself had hung them all in place. In fact, in a time when there was no stars, no heaven and no earth. God had done the impossible and he had spoken and by the very power of his command, he had caused all of these things to begin.
God had spoken and light began to shine, the earth began to form, and the seas began to pool together. God had spoken and the sun had appeared, the moon had begun to spin and the stars had blinked into view.
Where once there had been only empty nothingness, there now was a virtually endless sky filled with the testimony of God’s power, and authority. For you see when God looks at an empty sky he doesn’t see nothingness he looks at an opportunity to display his creativity.
When God looks at an empty plate he isn’t moved to hunger, he’s moved to fill it. When God looks at a promise not yet fulfilled, he doesn’t see a hopeless situation, he sees an opportunity to show his faithfulness.
There Abram looked, there Abram stood, in the dark cool breeze of the night; and as he stood there, as he contemplated the promises of God, and the power of God, something happened in his heart. Abram stopped looking at his situation and he started looking at his God. Where once there had been doubt, there now entered into his mind a definite assurance that God was somehow going to give him and his equally aging wife, a son.
The Bible’s words are clear, "Abram believed God. And God reckoned that to him as righteousness."
This is the passage from which the Apostle Paul makes such great promises to us about our salvation. This is the passage the Apostle uses to prove to us that we are not saved by the quality of our life, but by the existence of our faith in God.
It’s a wonderful passage and it holds for us a thousand lessons, but the one that I want to point out for you most clearly to night is this one, related closely to the story line.
Abram found himself in a situation where he had received promises from God, but he hadn’t received the fulfillment of them. I believe he was beginning to wonder if God was going to keep those promises. And I believe that it was not on the basis of the doubts, but on the basis of the prayers that Abram offered, that God began to cure Abram of his gradually fleeing faith.
God offered Abram some wonderful things, but Abram had a deeper need.
When Abram began asking God the hard questions, he did something that sometimes, we’re not real comfortable doing. He was definitively honest to God about his doubts.
God wants us to be honest with him, even asking him the hard questions, that are burning in our hearts. It’s when we’re boldly honest with God, no matter what it sounds like, that God can begin to answer our deepest needs.
What is it then that’s bothering you?
Have you grown weary of the battle? Do you feel now that it’s your turn to just coast into the kingdom? Do you feel like you’ve run your race and you don’t have to run anymore because there are other people who can run now? Go ahead, be honest with God about how you feel, and see how he bolsters your faith.
Or are you tired of another battle? Are you tired of working with that person or those people who continually assault you because they know you’re a Christian? Or maybe they don’t know and you’re not sure how they’d respond to you if they found out? Go ahead, be honest with God about your doubts, And then watch as he reveals something of himself to you that will enable you to hope again.
Or perhaps you just can’t figure out why God is letting you suffer with any of a million problems that come our way. Maybe your faith has become weak recently and you just don’t think you can Go on.
Maybe you have serious questions about your health, Either you know something now, or you’re afraid to find out and frankly you don’t think you can handle the news.
Or perhaps, now that tax season has come and gone, and you’re silently staggering from the blow to your bank account. The Bills are starting to stack high, and the income isn’t rising to meet the demand. But, didn’t God say, "Seek ye first his kingdom and his righteousness and these things will be added to you"?
So what’s the deal? You’ve sought the kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of earth is taking its toll. And frankly, you’re just not sure if you can pay the price. Go ahead, God can handle your doubts. Tell him what your thinking, let God know what honestly concerns you, whatever it is. I believe that he’s waiting, right now; to meet your needs.
