Crossing bridges isn’t the same anymore. Not since bridge collapses in Quebec and Minneapolis. We now realize that structures we once thought near invincible are just like anything else manmade – subject to decay and failure. Is there anything in this world we can rely on without question? Let’s see. Ships sink. Toys are toxic. Cars crash. Medics misdiagnose. No, there doesn’t seem to be one single thing that is worth our unquestioning trust. It’s no wonder we often struggle to fall asleep at night. So many worries weigh us down.
There may be nothing of this world that is reliable but there is one thing in this world that is dependable. It’s not a thing really; it’s a being - the triune God. He speaks to us this morning through the pages of Scripture and says: “Do not be afraid! I am your shield. I am your very great reward.” Let’s find out how God is our shield and very great reward so that we deposit our worries, all of them, at his feet.
Abram hadn’t witnessed a bridge collapse but he was nevertheless fearful in the opening verses of our text. Humanly speaking there should have been no reason for Abram to be afraid. He had just returned from a military victory during which he had rescued his nephew Lot from marauding kings. On his way home he had been blessed by the mysterious priest-king Melchizedek. He was offered the plunder of battle but refused it because God had already given him much. Still, something was bugging Abram. He and his wife Sarai had no children. Abram said to God: “O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus…a servant in my household” (Genesis 15:2, 3).
These were not just the longings of a man lonely for bubbly laughter around the house. Abram was concerned about his salvation, for God had promised that through his family the savior of the world would come. But if he had no children, that promise couldn’t come true and neither Abram nor any one of us here could go to heaven. I suppose what Abram was going through is a bit like what Pastor Halldorson (of Calgary) and his family is going through right now. They’re planning on flying to the States this week to visit family but they don’t have their passports yet. Sure they applied for them months ago and have been assured that the passports are on their way but they have yet to arrive. If they don’t come by this Thursday, the Halldorsons will have to cancel, or at least postpone their vacation. You can bet they anxiously await the mailman everyday, just as Abram anxiously waited for signs that his wife was pregnant!
In this first half of our devotion we learn a couple of important lessons from Abram. First of all, Abram did what God wants all his children to do: pour out their hearts to him. Don’t keep your worries and concerns inside. Sure, God already knows what they are but you need to get them off your chest before their weight crushes you! Are you upset at how God has handled things in your life? Go ahead. Share those thoughts with him. God has been listening to the complaints of his people from day one. Say what you must but then be ready to listen to what he has to say to you, as we’ll see Abram did.
The second lesson we learn from Abram is that the greatest concern we are to have is to be spiritual in nature. So do you worry more about paying bills, or seeking forgiveness from those you have offended? Do you work harder at making and keeping friends, or at concentrating on how to remain God’s friend? Are you more apt to block time out in your week to catch a movie, or to ensure you get your daily devotion in? In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus invites us to pray for material things when we petition: “Give us this day our daily bread.” However, that’s just one petition out of seven that asks for the material. All the other petitions ask for spiritual blessings, from strengthened faith to godlier living. I’m afraid that when we compare our lives to Abram’s we have to admit that what worries us is not the spiritual but the material and for that we need to repent because it shows just how shortsighted we are. In our gospel lesson Jesus explained that where our treasure is there our heart is also (Luke 12:34). So if your treasure is your house, your car, your career, your Barbies, your X-Box, your power tools, or your kitchen and all its gadgets…there your heart and concerns will be. How foolish when all these things will be destroyed on Judgment Day. Instead treasure your soul and all that God gives to sustain it, for your soul will live forever…in heaven or hell.
The truth is we don’t need to worry about the material or the spiritual, for God said: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield” (Genesis 15:1a). It should have been obvious to Abram that God was his shield. After all God had protected him when he went off to rescue Lot. God had been Abram’s shield when he journeyed from his home in Ur to this new land of Canaan. God is your shield too. Do you sweat when cross bridges now? Don’t! God is there with you. He has sent his holy angels to watch over you. And he’s not just your shield. He’s a shield big enough to protect your family and friends.
But how was God a shield to those who lost their lives in the Minneapolis bridge collapse? It isn’t that God wasn’t there. He was or the loss of life would no doubt have been greater. We heard about the children in that school bus who all escaped with minor cuts and bruises even after their bus fell ten meters and was nearly hanging off the end of the bridge. But still, what about those who died? Where was God for them? It shouldn’t surprise us that some died that day. The fact is we’re all going to die. It doesn’t matter whether that happens because of a bridge collapse or a collapsed lung. It doesn’t matter because even in death, or should I say, especially in death God is our shield. We know this to be true because God’s shield has a name: Jesus. Jesus stood before us when God the Father raged against all sin – including our sins of being more concerned with the material than the spiritual. He absorbed those blows while keeping us safe. We still will one day die, (unless Jesus reappears first), but dying is not fatal because death’s blow hit Jesus first and so will only glance off of us leaving a superficial wound God will permanently heal at the Resurrection. It’s no wonder God would say to Abram and now to us: “Do not be afraid!”
But God is more than our shield; he is our “very great reward” as he told Abram (Genesis 15:1b). I love that phrase. God doesn’t just say he is our reward. He doesn’t even say that he is our great reward. He says that he is our very great reward. That phrase illustrates how God doesn’t deal in minimums. He didn’t just send Jesus to save us from our sins. He sent Jesus to give us an eternal life of happiness with him. That’s like the tax auditor not only refusing to press charges even though we’ve ripped off the government and so deserve a fine or even a jail term, instead he gives us a check for a hundred million dollars!
Let’s never forget that the Lord is our very great reward. Yes, God’s smile is worth more than anything we can buy at IKEA or at Toys R’ Us. And how do we make God smile? How do we earn this reward? We don’t. We can’t. It’s a reward of grace because everything we do makes God frown. Even that kind word you spoke this week. You did that to feel good about yourself, not so much to make the other person feel good. That act of kindness was actually selfish. So how can we say that God smiles at us when this is what we’re like? We know that he smiles at us because whenever the heavenly Father sees his Son Jesus, he can’t help but smile. And when the Father smiles at Jesus he smiles at us because through baptism we have been joined to Jesus at the hip.
God’s smile was obvious when he took Abram outside and told him to count the stars and promised that his descendants would be as numerous. Was God exaggerating? Abram didn’t think so. In fact we’re told: “Abram believed the LORD” (Genesis 15:6a). When God first appeared to Abram, Abram was filled with doubts about his eternal future. But now he was brimming with confidence. What made the difference? God’s word of promise had made the difference. The Hebrew word translated as “believe” comes from the word “firm.” When a parent takes a child in his or her arms, the child relaxes because those arms are firm. When God speaks to us it’s as if he is wrapping his firm arms around us and there we find peace, we relax. That’s what it means to believe God. It means to relax in his arms knowing that our present and eternal future is secure.
Indeed it is secure because Moses records: “Abram believed the LORD, and [the LORD] credited it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). God counts our relaxing in his arms as righteousness. And righteousness is what we need to get into heaven. Many strive to become righteous by their politeness and charitable work but it’s impossible and downright foolish to try to secure righteousness that way when God has given it to us in Jesus. That would be like trying to swim from Vancouver to Tokyo, all the way across the Pacific Ocean when there’s a cruise ship going the same way, a cruise ship on which you have a paid reservation. And you do have a paid reservation; you’ll find it under the name Jesus.
No, bridges might not seem as firm as they once were but God’s promises remain as steadfast as ever. The Lord is our shield and he is our very great reward. Don’t be afraid – not of crossing bridges, not even of crossing death itself. Amen.
