A Foundational Confidence

For the past 6 weeks we have been talking about what we can be sure of. When we are sure of something we can have confidence in that. It feels so good to be sure of our relationship with God, our salvation in Him, the truth of His word, the assurance of His forgiveness, the victory that we have over death because of what Jesus did for us, and just knowing that God loves us through it all.

With all of this Surety we can have confidence in how we manage our lives. That is the direction I would like to go for the next few weeks.

Prayer.

Some friends challenged a guy to go skydiving. They wouldn't leave him alone. The peer pressure was heavy. He finally agreed even though he was reluctant. His confidence meter continued to Free Fall as his jump day approached. He said that he would never forget the moment on that day when, 13,000 ft in the air, the door of that plane flew open. He yelled back to the guy that he was awkwardly strapped too, “What about landing? You never talked to me about landing!”

The guy shouted back, “I'll teach you in the air!” The guy said that before he could finish screaming his response, “Teach me in the air?”, We were free falling.

What gave him the confidence to jump out of a perfectly good airplane? In the same way, what gives us the confidence to make bold leaps when it comes to making decisions in our lives, how do we get the assurance to jump when God is calling us in a direction that may feel unknown, extreme, or even far-fetched? Like when he calls you to surrender your life to the ministry to be a pastor. Let's take some cues today from a man named Abram who demonstrated just that type of confidence.

We have been in the New Testament for quite some time, so for the next few weeks we will turn to the other end of the Bible and pull our message from Genesis 12.

God made a covenant with Abram a long time ago, but it's a promise that still lives on today. God would not forget about His creation, but He would provide a way for us to be in a right relationship with Him. This promise to Abram was the starting point of God's unfolding grace. We see this promise displayed in, and fulfilled by, the birth of Jesus Christ, who was a descendant of Abram. As Christians, we get to experience the benefits of this fulfilled promise.

Genesis 12:1-3 – “The Lord said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt,

and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

God's instruction to Abraham was no small task. Just try to see this from Abram's perspective. He was hearing this proposal and promise for the very first time. We have the benefit of knowing how the story ends, but Abram had no clue of what the outcome would be. Imagine him scratching his head and saying, “Wait a minute. You want me to do what? You're going to do what?” This was a bold request and a bold promise from God.

Did you ever wonder what gave Abram the confidence to accept such a request? For the guy that we just talked about in the skydiving episode, he said when he first got the invitation from his friends to go skydiving, he thought they had to be out of their minds. But he ended up going because of who was asking him. His close relationship with those friends is what drew him in. He knew their character. They were so excited about the skydive that it piqued his curiosity and opened his mind to look at the situation from a different viewpoint.

He certainly would not have responded in the same way if it had been a stranger, or even a casual acquaintance, that came up and asked him to go jump out of an airplane. He stated that if he didn't know anything about that person or his character, why would he trust him? Well in the same way, it reminds us of the simple truth that our understanding of God and our relationship with Him will dictate how we respond to Him.

Just look at all that God promised. He chose Abram to initiate His promise. It was a promise of multiplication, by way of land, children, and blessing. God told Abram that He would make his name great. In other words, the patriarch would be famous.