A Texas dad (who did not want to give his name) had some unexpected excitement on his family vacation a few years ago (2013). The man and his family were traveling through Memphis, Tennessee, when they stopped to fill up their gas tank. That's when the trip got really interesting.
Dad had been driving all night while another adult had been sleeping in the back of the van. At the stop, the two were going to switch places so dad could get some sleep. He went inside the station to pay for the gas, but after a while his family thought he had already crawled in the back. So they closed all the doors and took off, leaving dad at the gas station.
He tried to call his own cell phone, which was still in the van, but nobody answered it. Then he tried calling everybody else’s cell phone, six different phones, and still nobody answered. He tried his own cell phone again and it went straight to voicemail. They were obviously in a dead zone.
So the father called the police, but it was social media that saved the day. The frantic dad borrowed a computer from a local motel and got in touch with his family through Facebook. The van was about 100 miles away by the time he finally reached his family. The story had a happy ending: the family turned around, picked up dad, and continued their vacation. (WMC-TV, “Kids leave dad at gas station, realize mistake 100 miles away,” 6-25-13; www.PreachingToday.com)
Sometimes, dads get left behind, especially in our contemporary culture where their role is seen as more and more irrelevant. But that’s not the way God views dads. He places a high value on dads and rewards them for their faith in Him.
If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Genesis 15, Genesis 15, where we see how God rewarded Father Abram, and how He rewards anyone who trusts Him.
Genesis 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” (ESV)
Now, Abram had just returned from a battle where he made some very powerful people very angry. So God reassures him: “I am your shield,” literally, “I am a shield to you; to you a very great reward.” It’s not so much that Abram’s reward shall be very great, but that God Himself is Abram’s very great reward.
You see, God rewarded Abram’s faith with the protection of His very own presence, and God rewards anyone who trusts Him with that same protection. Psalm 46 says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear…” (Psalm 46:1-2).
Just like for Abram, God is our shield and defender. All we need to do is trust Him with our lives like Abram did. All we need to do is depend on Him. All we need to do is…
BELIEVE AND BE SAFE
Put your faith in the Lord and He will be YOUR shield. Trust Him with your life, and He will protect you from any real harm.
Several years ago (May 1995), Randy Reid, a 34-year-old construction worker, was welding on top of a nearly completed water tower outside Chicago. According to the news reports, Reid unhooked his safety gear to reach for some pipes when a metal cage slipped and bumped the scaffolding he stood on. The scaffolding tipped, and Reid lost his balance. He fell 110 feet, landing face down on a pile of dirt, just missing rocks and construction debris. A fellow worker called 911.
When paramedics arrived, they found Reid conscious, moving, and complaining of a sore back. Apparently the fall didn't hurt Reid’s sense of humor. As paramedics carried him on a backboard to the ambulance, Reid had one request: “Don't drop me.” (Doctors later said Reid came away from the accident with just a bruised lung.)
Sometimes we’re like that construction worker. God protects us from harm in a 110-foot fall, but we're still nervous about three-foot heights. You see, the God who saved us from hell and death can protect us from the smaller dangers we face each week. (Greg Asimakoupoulos, Naperville, Illinois, Leadership, Vol.16, No.4; www.PreachingToday.com)
Just trust Him with your life. Depend on Him. Believe and be safe. More than that…
BELIEVE AND BE RIGHT, as well.
Put your faith in the Lord and find yourself in a right standing before Him. Trust God with your life and He will treat you as righteous and holy in his sight.
That’s what happened to Abram. He not only found protection in the Lord, he found righteousness in the Lord as well. God said to Abram, “I am…your very great reward…”
Genesis 15:2-3 But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” (ESV)
God, something is not right. You promised me many descendants, but right now all I have are servants. And if things keep going the way they are, one of those servants will inherit everything. Abram is curious: How is God going to keep His promise?
Genesis 15:4-5 And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” (ESV)
You’re going to have as many offspring as the stars in the sky.
When I was a student at the Moody Bible Institute, years ago in the late 70’s, I was in the Big Brother/Big Sister Program, sponsored by the YMCA and administered by Moody Students. We developed relationships with underprivileged inner-city kids, and I’ll never forget the time we took some of those kids to a YMCA camp in Michigan.
Many of them had never been outside the city where the lights always wash out the night sky. Now, they found themselves in the country on a cool, crystal, clear night, where the sky was ablaze with hundreds of thousands of stars. One of the kids looked up into the sky and said, “Wow! This is better than the planetarium!”
That’s what God did for Abram. God took him outside on a crystal, clear night and Abram said, “Wow!” Well, not quite, but close.
Genesis 15:6 And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. (ESV)
Instead of saying, “Wow,” Abram said, “Amen!” The word for “believe” is the Hebrew word, “Amen.” So in essence Abram said, “Amen,” in his heart to the Lord. Literally, “It is true!” Abram said, “God’s Word is true for me;” and as a result, God declared him righteous.
Abram found righteousness through simple faith in the Lord, and that’s where we find righteousness, as well. That’s where we find a right standing before God. All we need to do is believe the Lord, like Abram did. All we need to do is say “Amen” in our hearts to God’s Word. All we need to do is trust it to be true for us, as well.
Several years ago (2007), while we were living on Washington Island in Wisconsin, my son, Tim, and I had the privilege of performing in an Island Players production of The Diary of Anne Frank. It was a sobering depiction of everyday life during World War II for Jews in Holland, who had to hide from the Nazis lest they be deported to one of their many death camps.
Those camps included Auschwitz and Dachau, both of which had a sign above their entryways: Arbeit macht frei. It means, “Work makes free,” and it promised freedom through hard, back-breaking labor.
It was a lie – a false hope. The Nazis made people believe their hard work would bring liberation, but the promised liberation never came. Instead, their work only killed them in the end, but not before they went through horrifying pain and suffering.
“Work makes free.” It was Hitler’s lie, and it is also the lie of this age. It is a satanic lie, a religious lie, and a false hope. Like those in the concentration camps, it is an impossible dream for many people in the world. They believe their good works will free them from the guilt of sin, but it will only lead them to horrifying pain and suffering in the end.
In fact, “Work makes free” is the false hope of every religion apart from Christianity. God’s Word is very clear. It is not “Work makes free.” It is “Faith makes free.” Faith in Jesus Christ sets us free from sin and guilt, because Jesus died in our place and rose again. He did all the work. All we need to do is trust Him. (Johnny V. Miller, The Great Rescue, 4-14-07, www.Preaching Today.com)
J. Vernon McGee says, “There are only two kinds of religions in the world... You can list every ‘ism,’ every cult, every religion… under one category. They all say, ‘Do, do, do.’ Only Christianity says, ‘Done.’ Christ has done it all. (“The Best of Vernon McGee,” Christianity Today, Vol.36, No.4)
On the cross, He cried, “It is finished,” literally, paid in full! All that remains for us to do is trust Him. Say “Amen” in your heart to Christ – “It is true!” Tell Jesus, “Your word is true for me. I accept your promise to me of eternal life.” Just believe Him, and like He did for Abram, Jesus will declare you righteous and set you free from having to earn his favor.
The famous author, James Herriot, talks about an unforgettable wedding anniversary he and his wife celebrated early in their marriage. His boss had encouraged him to take his wife to a fancy restaurant, but Herriot balked. He was a young veterinarian and couldn't really afford it. “Oh, do it!” the boss insisted. “It's a special day!” So Herriot reluctantly agreed and surprised his wife with the news.
On route to the restaurant, Herriot and his wife stopped at a farm to examine a farmer's horse. Having finished the routine exam, he returned to his car and drove to the restaurant, unaware that his checkbook had fallen in the mud. After a wonderful meal, Herriot reached for his checkbook and discovered it was gone. Quite embarrassed, he tried to offer a way of making it up.
“Not to worry,” the waiter replied. “Your dinner has been taken care of!” As it was, Herriot's employer had paid for the dinner in advance. (www.PreachingToday.com)
That’s what Jesus did for us on the cross. He paid for heaven in advance. All we need to do is take advantage of his offer.
Just believe and receive God’s protection. Just believe and receive God’s righteousness, which will fit you for heaven. Believe and be safe. Believe and be right. And best of all…
BELIEVE AND BE SURE.
Trust in the Lord and receive His assurance that He will keep his promises to you no matter what happens. Put your faith in Him and He will confirm that faith even in times of suffering and pain. That’s what God did for Abram.
Genesis 15:7-8 And he said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” But he said, “O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” (ESV)
You see, Abram didn’t own any land at this point. He was trespassing on somebody else’s property, property owned by the Canaanites, and he needed their permission just to put up his tents there.
Genesis 15:9-11 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. (ESV)
God is getting ready to make a blood covenant with Abram. In our day, when we want to make certain guarantees, we draw up a contract and sign on the dotted line. But in Bible days, they exchanged sandals or pieces of salt to endorse their contracts. It was as good as signing on the dotted line, except those contracts were more easily broken. All you had to do was return the sandal or piece of salt and you could back out of the contract.
On the other hand, if you wanted to make a binding contract, from which there was no backing out, you would do what Abram did here. You would cut some animals in half, lay each half opposite the other, and then the two parties would walk between the pieces. In essence, they were saying to each other, “May the same thing happen to us, as happened to these animals, if either of us breaks our word.” There was no backing out of this contract, because there was no way to put the animals back together, give them their life again, and return them to their owners.
This was called “a blood covenant” in Bible days, and God is getting ready to make that kind of covenant with Abram – a binding covenant from which no one can back out.
Genesis 15:12-16 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” (ESV)
God tells Abram there is 400 years of trouble ahead for his descendants. But after that time of trouble, they will return to this land and possess it. Then God does something unusual for a blood covenant – He alone passes between the animal pieces, obligating only Himself to the covenant.
Genesis 15:17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. (ESV)
Abram is asleep at this time (vs.12). Only God Himself, in the form of fire, passes between the animal pieces, because He is making a promise to Abram, which has no conditions Abram or his descendants must meet. It is an unconditional promise which God will never break no matter what happens.
Genesis 15:18-21 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.” (ESV)
God promised to give Abram’s descendants all the land between the Nile River in Egypt to the Euphrates River in Iraq. Now, Israel has never yet occupied all this land to date, so that can only mean one thing. One day she will, when Jesus her Messiah comes, because God made an unconditional promise, which He cannot break.
God’s Word is sure no matter what. Abram, at this time, had a barren wife, yet God promised him many descendants (vs.2). Abram faced the prospect of 400 years of bondage, yet God promised him great wealth and freedom (vs.13). And Abram, at this time, owned no land, yet God promised him more land than he could imagine (vs.18).
Despite the obstacles, God confirmed his promises to Abram, and God has done the same for us. Only He didn’t use the blood of animals to confirm his covenant with us. He used the blood of His own Son, which was shed on the cross for us.
Jesus, on the eve of his death, at that last meal with his disciples said, “The cup is the new covenant in my blood” (1 Corinthians 11:25). In other words, “My blood is God’s signature on the contract. My blood is your guarantee that God will keep His promises to you.”
Romans 8:32 says, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” God MUST and He WILL, because He made a blood covenant with us, using the blood of His very own Son. Like Abram, all we need to do is believe it. All we need to do is believe it to be true for us today.
Some time ago (May 2007), singer, songwriter and author, Jennifer Rothschild, shared her story in Decision magazine:
She writes, “As a little girl, I was captivated by colors. I loved to get the biggest box possible and read the titles of each crayon. I would study the differences between garnet, scarlet, maroon, and burgundy. My dream was to be a commercial artist. I remember taking a crisp white paper from my dad's office, and with a black felt-tip pen, learning to draw caricatures.
“When I was about 12, I began to have some difficulties with my sight, but they were subtle and I didn't immediately associate the struggles with vision problems. As my junior-high years unfolded, things that most students in my grade could do so easily—like opening the combination locks on their lockers, reading from the chalkboard, or catching a ball on the softball field—were becoming really hard for me.
“I remember sitting in class and feeling a wave of anxiety when the final bell rang because I had to navigate the crowded hallways. I would constantly run into students, and that was so embarrassing. I couldn't understand what was happening; no one else seemed so clumsy! It took me forever to realize it was because I couldn't see the students, and my classmates could see much better than I.
“I'll never forget the night my mom and I were visiting a friend who lived in an upstairs apartment. I was probably 13 or 14, and as we were walking up in the dark, I was stumbling. My mom asked, ‘Jennifer, can't you see the stairs?’ I asked her with just as much curiosity, ‘What do you mean? Can you see the stairs?’
“By ninth grade, my eyesight had worsened. The glasses I had worn since I was a little girl were no longer compensating for my sight loss. After several visits to the eye doctor, he told my parents and me that there was something wrong and recommended we go to an eye hospital. I had no idea what I was about to discover.
“At the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami, the doctors told us that I had retinitis pigmentosa, which essentially meant my retinas were deteriorating. The prognosis was total blindness. I don't remember the exact words that were used that day, but I do remember the word ‘blindness,’ because that's not a word I expected to hear. My parents and I had the same response: silence. We knew something was wrong with my eyes, but even so, we were shocked.
“In the silence of that difficult ride home from the hospital, my mind was racing. I thought, I'm not going to be able to drive a car. I'm not going to be able to be an artist. I remember the disappointment of that. And I questioned, Are boys going to want to date me? How am I going to finish high school? Will I be able to go off to college? Sitting in the back seat of our family car, I felt my fingertips and wondered if I would have to read Braille someday.
“Finally, we arrived home. I went straight to my old upright piano in the living room, and the silence of the hospital and the ride home was broken as I began to play. I had taken a few years of piano lessons and could sight-read in simple keys. But on this day I could no longer see the sheet music. Instead, I played by ear for the very first time. The song that filled my living room that day—the song that fills my heart to this day—was that beloved hymn ‘It Is Well with My Soul.’
“It was a miracle that on that very dark day, God gave me hope and light through the gift of playing by ear. But the greatest miracle wasn't that I played It Is Well with My Soul; the greatest miracle was that, because I was a Christian, it really was well with my soul. With such a concise statement, God gave new color to my life. Blindness has remained with me; it's still not well with my circumstance, but God has made it well with my soul.”
Jennifer Rothschild continues, “I am convinced that God's grace has sustained me. If healing were sufficient, God would have provided it. If deliverance were sufficient, God would have delivered me. But he's allowed me to live with blindness, yet live equally with the sufficiency of his grace, and that grace shows up in different ways on different days. But in whatever way it shows up, it has always been truly sufficient. It may never be well with our circumstances, but through God's grace, it can always be well with our souls. (Jennifer Rothschild, “Faith Through the Darkness,” Decision, May 2007; www.PreachingToday.com)
Please, dear friends, believe it! Like Abram, just believe God. Believe and be safe. Believe and be right. Believe and be sure that indeed, no matter what happens, it will always be well with your soul.
