Abraham: What’s His God Like?
Genesis 15
As a pastor I’ve gotten used to talking about God. It’s not that have a special line to God or that I’ve known God the longest of all of us. It’s a privilege and a calling to be a pastor, and part of the pastor’s role is to tell others about God, based on the Bible.
This morning, I want to attempt to do more than talk about God. I want to talk as if I were God. You might think I’ve lost my mind, but many of us play the role of God everyday.
Even those who don’t believe in God play the role of god every day. They determine their own fate and what is right or wrong. And Christians, who know God and the Bible well, often speak on God’s behalf. They encourage one another with what God would say in a particular situation.
As a pastor, I’m often asked, "What do you think God wants me to do in this or that situation?" Then I would pray silently and flip through the pages of the Bible in my mind. If a promise, an instruction or an example from the Bible comes to mind that parallels the situation I’m being asked about, I would offer some counsel. If nothing comes to mind, I would offer prayer and delay answering.
But this morning, I want to play the role of God, in order to help you understand what Abram’s God is like. I want you to see how God saw Abram. You can tell a lot about a person by his perception of another person. And by offering God’s perception of Abram, you can know God a bit better.
I would have chosen a costume to better carry out my attempt, but since none of you have seen God before, you probably wouldn’t have recognized the costume. So I’ll just trust that you will follow along with your imagination. As you listen, you will discover what Abram’s God is like.
(Pause; begin to play the role of God.)
Most pastors have asked Me why I chose Abram. He was far from being perfect. He was easily frightened. He was not exactly a man of integrity. Being God, I knew him better than he knew himself. I knew Abram would lie about his wife in Egypt and put his wife to shame to save his own life.
Sometimes he is more frightened of people than he is frightened of Me. I told him to leave his household behind, but he allowed Lot and his family to come along. It’s easier to get the person out of the tradition than to get the tradition out of a person. And Abram’s tradition makes obedience to his elders more important than obedience to God.
Most people would not have chosen Abram to be a channel of My blessings to the nations. But you need to realize, I’m God, and I don’t need to work with perfect people, as if there were any. I chose Abram because he had a trusting heart. Trust is the key to any good friendship.
Abram’s trust was not perfect, but I’m not looking for perfection. When I called him to leave his home, he left. He was willing to move into the unknown because he trusted Me.
Another episode of trust in Abram’s life was when Abram and Lot went their separate ways. Abram trusted that I would take care of him, so he gave Lot first choice of what land he wanted to settle. Lot chose to pitch his tents near Sodom, a terribly wicked city.
Not too long after, war broke out in that area, and Lot was taken captive. When Abram heard about this, he got together 318 trained men and carried out a successful sneak-attack to rescue Lot. After this victory, Abram went to My appointed king and priest, Melchizedek, to worship Me and to give a tenth of everything he had. Abram honored Me when he did this.
Abram honored, not only in front of My priest, but he honored Me by turning down the gifts from the wicked king of Sodom. Most people can put on a godly front at a worship service, because they know how to play church. But Abram lived by the same godly values even outside the worship service.
You would think that Abram’s trust in Me at this point would have been high. After all, he recognized that I had helped him successfully rescued Lot and turned away from the temptation by the wicked king of Sodom. But instead, fear and anxiety rose in Abram’s mind and heart.
The problem was his mind wandered from focusing on Me to focusing on the possibility that the kings from whom he rescued Lot might come after him in revenge. And he wondered if he had offended the king of Sodom by declining his gifts. Sometimes doing the right thing can make you enemies.
He also began to think about his finances. He wondered if he should have given Me 10 percent of everything or just 10 percent of the loot gained from winning the sneak-attack on the other kings. Abram was all too human, and he needed My assurance.
So I came to him in a vision. My words calmed his anxieties. I promised to be his Shield if the other kings should take revenge on him. I assured him that he was right to decline the gifts from the king of Sodom, that I would be his great reward.
So I assured his troubled heart by comparing his reward of offspring to the stars in the sky. He took one look at the sky, and was reminded that if I can create the countless number of stars in heaven, then I can create a great nation from him.
So Abram believed Me. And I considered him a friend. That’s what righteousness means: Right relationship. Trust is key.
In every relationship, there are keys to making them right. I created human beings and relationships. So let Me tell you about some keys to right relationships.
Love is key between in a husband and wife relationship. Love is the key that a husband must use to unlock intimacy with his wife. Now this love is not Hollywood love, but love that is patient, kind and forgiving. Love that does not envy and that is not self-seeking.
Respect is key between a wife and husband relationship. Respect is the key that a wife must use to unlock intimacy with her husband. Every man has an ego more than twice his body size. And that ego cannot be tamed by direct confrontation. But a man will lay down his ego when his wife respects and admires him.
Faithfulness is the key that an employee must use to unlock right relationship with the employer. And fair compensation is the key that an employer must use to unlock right relationship with the employee.
But of all the keys to right relationships, trust is the most important key. Because trust is the key to a right relationship between mankind and God is trust. You do not gain My friendship by being religious. You do not gain My friendship by being good for goodness sake. You gain My friendship by trusting Me. By believing that what I say is true. Trust is the key that unlocks a right relationship with God.
Abram learned that day that I am the God who addresses life’s insecurities with My words. If you take time to read My words, the Bible, you would know that I’ve addressed your insecurities also.
Abram learned that I am the God who assures troubled hearts with My works. If you take the time to look carefully at My creation of the universe, you would know that nothing is impossible for Me to do. Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away, but I feed them. Are you not much more valuable to Me than birds?
But after being made secured and assured, Abram still had doubt about possessing the land I gave him. You need to know, he didn’t have doubt about Me; he had doubt about himself. He didn’t believe that he could fulfill the promise I made to him. He didn’t understand that I would assume full responsibility for fulfilling My promises.
To help Abram understand that possessing the land was My responsibility, I worked with the picture that was in his mind. In his days, when people made a covenant or an agreement, they didn’t pull out a paper contract or go to a lawyer. They performed a graphic agreement ritual.
They cut up the animals and lay one half on one side and the other half on the other side. And both parties would walk down the bloody middle, looking at the carcasses. By doing so, they were agreeing that the one who fails to carry out his part of the agreement would end up like the dead animals.
But notice only I passed between the cut animals. I was saying to Abram, "Abram, the promise that you will possess the land is not about you. I will assume full responsibility for My promises even to My own wound. If Abram fail in his part or get in the way of fulfilling My promise, I would be willing to die in his place."
I am God, and I do not change. I still address insecurities with My words. I still assure trouble hearts with My works. And I still assume full responsibility with My wound.
Trust what I have said. Trust is the key to a right relationship with Me. I promise eternal life to all who would trust Me. Even if you are not good enough, and no one is, I will assume full responsibility to carry out My promise. Even if I have to die in your place to carry out My promise to you, I will, and in Jesus Christ, I already have.
