Doubting Abram
Genesis 15: 1-6 (NLT)
Intro: Mr. Jones called his pastor from the hospital one day and frantically said, "Oh, pastor come quickly, my son, John was just bitten by a rattle snake and is at the point of death." Of course the pastor hurried to the side of the worried father. "Pastor, pray for my son!", cried the father, " I have promised the Lord that if my son recovers, I will come back to church and bring my family and will again start living for the Lord. I will never doubt him again.”
Of course the pastor prayed. He said, "Dear Lord, we come to you now in behalf of Mr. Jones’ son. We pray that he might recover from this snake bite. We want to praise your name for sending this rattle snake to bite John! This one rattle snake has done what I or the church has been unable to do in the life of Mr. Jones now for over 5 years. During all this time, he has not been interested in his spiritual well-being or the spiritual well-being of his family and this one rattle snake has turned his mind back to you. Lord, could it be, what we may need in the lives of many of our other church members are bigger and better rattle snakes?"
. Pepper Rodgers was a college football coach back in the 60’s and 70’s. He coached for Kansas, UCLA and sadly Ga Tech. while at UCLA alumni and fans made Pepper’s life miserable during a season when his Bruins got off to a horrible start. Nobody in Southern California would hang out with him. "My dog was my only true friend," Rodgers said of that year. "I told my wife that every man needs at least two good friends. She bought me another dog."
Rodgers can be very set in what he wants to do. When his players at UCLA were having difficulty adapting to the wishbone offense he’d installed and the school’s alumni demanded that he adopt another system, Rodgers didn’t budge. The wishbone, he said, "is like Christianity. If you believe in it only until something goes wrong, you didn’t believe in it in the first place."
. Do we doubt our faith when things are not going the way we want them to?
. Bill Hybels, pastor of the mega church Willow Creek Community Church tells about an interesting experience after a baptism service in their church. He writes: “I bumped into a woman in the stairwell who was crying. I thought this was a little odd, since the service was so joyful. I asked her if she was all right. She said, ‘No, I’m struggling.’ She said, ‘My mom was baptized today. I prayed for her every day for almost 20 years. The reason I’m crying is because I came this close to giving up on her. At the 5-year mark I said, “Who needs this? God isn’t listening.” At the 10-year mark I said, “Why am I wasting my breath?” At the 15-year mark I said, “This is absurd.” At the 19-year mark I said, “I’m just a fool.” But I just kept trying, kept praying. Even with weak faith I kept praying. Then she gave here life to Christ, and she was baptized today. I will never doubt the power of prayer again.”
.Sometimes we doubt that God is listening to us don’t we. We pray and hope and pray and hope and nothing. We begin to doubt don’t we? It is something that we all struggle with.
. Much of that is societal. We live in a world where everything is instantaneous. We want what we want and we want it now!
. When we don’t get it, especially in our relationship and dealings with God, we can start to doubt what God has told us. I have talked to folks, especially those that are part of the done’s, that even doubt the existence of God.
. At best, many of these people are agnostic, or not sure that God exists.
. Our scripture this morning tells of a doubter.
. Most of you have heard of “Doubting Thomas” or have heard someone called a doubting Thomas.
. Here in the Old Testament we have “Doubting Abram”
. Our scripture this morning focuses on Abrams doubt and his deliverance from that doubt.
. We are in the 15th chapter of Genesis. Verses 1-6
. 1Some time later, the LORD spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.”
2But Abram replied, “O Sovereign LORD, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son? Since you’ve given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth.
3You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.”
4Then the LORD said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.”
5Then the LORD took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”
6And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith.
. How did Abram get where he is in his faith.
. Abrams walk with the Lord has not been what you would call stellar.
. His walk was much like a roller coaster.
. Up one minute and down the next.
. He had answered God’s call and was on a mountain top, then he went to Egypt and became a liar who was willing to share his wife with someone for his own safety. Down in that valley. Then God delivered him from Egypt and he started slowly moving back up to the top of the mountain. When last we looked in on Abram he went out and rescued his nephew Lot and was introduced to Melchizedek, A High Priest of God, who blessed him and assured him that God was with him. Then we get to our scripture this morning.
.The first thing we see is that when we doubt, God knows.
. Look at verse 1 again.
. 1Some time later, the LORD spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.”
. Obviously a great deal of time had passed since Abram was on that mountain top and now he was start to doubt what God had told him.
. He was going intone of those low points in his life.
. God had promised him that his descendants would be made into a great nation. He was getting a little impatient.
. God looked Into Abrams heart and knew that he needed some encouragement and a reminder of what God had promised.
. God says fear not Abram, I am your shield, your protector and the reward that I promised you is coming, just be patient.
. Today we may not hear from God in a vision or a dream but we do hear from him.
. We have his word to speak to us.
. We can take comfort knowing that God is with us through scripture like:
Psalm 139: 1-2
1O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.
2You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
.John 14: 1-4
1“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.
2There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?
3When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.
4And you know the way to where I am going.”
. We hear this verse many times at funerals to comfort the family and friends. God gave us these verses not only for those times but for those times of doubt and worry.
. Don’t let your hearts be troubled, I know what you are going through and I am here for you and I will always be here for you.
. God knows our hardships and heartaches and troubles.
. If that’s the case, then why doesn’t God just fix everything preacher? In order to do that, God would have to take away our free will, our ability and freedom to choose the path’s in our lives.
. We would become nothing more than puppets and would no longer be the glorious creation of God.
. If you are here this morning and having doubts, know that God knows and that He wants to help.
. He does that by allowing us to:
. Cast Our Cares Upon Him
. Look at verses 2&3 again.
2But Abram replied, “O Sovereign LORD, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son? Since you’ve given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth.
3You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.”
. Abram was getting discouraged while waiting on this promise of descendants.
. He was going to have to leave all that God had given him to his chief steward. That’s what they did back then with no heirs. His line would cease to exist.
. Abram doubted what God had told him.
. Abram did what we must do if we are to cast our cares upon God.
, Abram was honest with God about how he felt.
. He was frustrated, God you promised this to me and it aint working.
. It’s been a while now and I am getting older and nothing?
. What’s up with that God?
. I don’t understand God.
. Notice he didn’t start off with a high priestly prayer acknowledging the God of the universe and His holiness and majesty.
. He just poured his heart out to God. He was honest with God.
. Folks when doubt and discouragement come into our lives, cast them on the Lord.
. Just talk to God. He already knows your discouragement and doubt. He is waiting to talk with you about it.
. Don’t think of God as an impersonal uncaring God. God cares about you and what you are going through.
. Cast all your doubt and cares upon the Lord.
. Next we see that:
God can and will calm your fears.
. Look at verses 4 &5 again:
. 4Then the LORD said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.”
5Then the LORD took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”
. Have faith Abram, I am God, the creator of the universe. I know that you are discouraged but if you will just keep the faith, everything will work out.
. God gave Abram certain promises and He told him to hold on to them.
. God gives us promises that we can re-claim and hold onto in times of doubt.
. Deut 31:8 : Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.”
. Joshua 1:9: This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
. 1 Peter 5:7 : Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
. God will reaffirm his promises and his majesty to us if we will just believe.
.That’s what verse 6 tells us.
. 6And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith.
The classic verse in the Old Testament about our salvation through faith.
. Even though Abram had not seen these things yet, he believed that God would do what He said He would do.
. It is through that faith that Abram was saved and cast his doubt upon the Lord.
. That is how we cast our doubt upon the Lord.
. Believe in His promise and hold firmly to our faith. Even when doubt and anxiety creep into our lives.
. God knows and He is there to help and comfort us.
. Do you know God this morning through belief. Belief in Jesus Christ.
. Invitation
*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
Sources: The Holy Bible, NLT
Illustrations from Sermon Central
