God’s Unbreakable Bond to You
Gen 15:1-12,17-18
After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
Invite u to listen to an ancient story. Long ago, God made an astonishing revelation to a guy called Abram in Gen.12. He promised that Abram would become a success story. He’d be blessed. All the world’s gonna benefit from His success story. God made an unbreakable bond, a solid promise, a commitment to bless the world through him. God elaborated in Gen. 13:14-17, that he’d get land and he’d blessed with descendants that would too numerous to count. And indeed he was a success story. He was better than Donald Trump at his prime. He was filthy rich (Gen.13:2). This was a guy has no worries financially! Not only that, he was also a great military leader. Defeated 4 great mighty kings who carried off the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and also rescued his nephew Lot, who chose to live in Sodom (Gen.14). It was no contest! This is like what happened last week with the underdog Canadian baseball team who pulled off the great upset win against the highly favored superstar laden USA baseball team. Or the Swiss team beating our NHL superstar Canadian team in Olympic hockey! Everywhere Abram went God granted him success… yet he was not too sure about His future and His legacy.
What is his fear, you ask. Isn’t he rich, powerful, what’s there to fear now? V.2 elaborates - He’s childless, and there’s no future for his family line. To an ancient Asian like him, that’s speaks shame that God is not happy with him and death, death to the future, death to his legacy, and more than that death to his hopes in what God promised him. Where’s the promised too numerous to count offspring? From his viewpoint, he’s getting on in years. He is probably in his late seventies or early eighties. Sarai, his wife is not getting any younger as well. V.3 underscores the doubts he has of God’s promise to make him into a great nation (Gen.12:2). Remember this was a time when Viagra was not invented yet. He can’t see how he or his wife could be changing diapers and pushing a baby stroller. He’s closer to the grave than to the cradle! You can see he’s planning already to give his entire estate to Eliezer of Damascus in accordance to ancient law, someone who is not of his bloodline. This delay of the fulfillment of God’s promise made him fearful. Note that this is the first time the Genesis record says that Abram verbalize or spoke to God. All the while, Abram responded in obedience but for the first time, as he spoke he spoke from his fear.
So God was moved, and He spoke directly to Abram’s fear “Do not be afraid…” God assures him, using terms such as shield and very great reward. In other words, he’s telling Abram God’s supreme! Like the Veggie Tales song “God is bigger than the boogeyman, He’s greater than Godzilla and the monsters on TV !” God’s bigger than Abram’s fears. God will be the shield, can be translated sovereign, protector and in control, God’s really big. The situation looks bleak, the circumstances are insurmountable. How can 2 senior citizens, with no advanced medical technology, hope to pull this off? Might as well believe that pigs can fly!
I like this. It is so human, isn’t it? Often, when we speak to God, do we not speak from our fears, doubts, and anxieties about life? Abram says to God “what can you give me since I remain childless… you have given me no children?” Hear the desperation? Hear the frustration? Does God deny us permission to voice to God our doubts, fears? Who says we have to deny reality? Who says that believers cannot voice their true feelings re: God’s promises? I am glad also to see that God did not tell Abram to clam up and just do what he says because he said so.
Will you process your fears with God, who knows exactly where you are coming from Are you not glad to see that God responded graciously and in a comforting way to the old guy’s fear?
Life has a way to erode our confidence in God, does it not? And fears will come, and troubled we will become. Even to rich, successful people, who seemingly have no worries, like Abram, things that shake our confidence in God will come but God invites us to not deny the reality but to face it squarely with Him. Just when you feel God’s unbreakable bond to you is slipping away…
1. PROCESS YOUR FEAR WITH THE GOD, YOUR SHIELD AND VERY GREAT REWARD
Second point…
2. PRACTICE A REDEMPTIVE FAITH, IT’S WHAT GOD IS AFTER
Look at God’s wonderful response to Abram’s doubts in v.4,5. Picture it in your mind. God took him outside. Who would spend time with anyone star gazing? Only lovers do that, right? Must be a real tender moment, gently walking him outside and proceeded to give him an astronomy lesson. God says “Let’s do some stargazing. See the stars?” That’s how many offspring you gonna get! Sure sounds like, God reminding if he can create the heavens with such beauty and order, surely he would have no problem fulfilling what he promised he’d do. Will you trust me on this says God to Abram.
It seems all of history is hinging on this response from Abram. Future of God’s plan is at stake. Gen.15:6 records Abram’s response – it was a faith filled response. Yes! Abram believed the Lord! It must have triggered a heaven shattering, face-melting, celebration in God! And God was honored, God was delighted! Faith! God was pleased to have him be the model of faith, the forerunner of what we faith looks like. God credits Abram with righteousness that is by faith. Righteousness is not all about behavior; it’s about trust in a God who loves you. Faith is spelt with the words “up close and personal”. That’s what the Holy Spirit prompted the Apostle Paul to comment on Rom.4:18-5:5. It is FOR US so that God can credit us with righteousness that flows from Christ when we like Abram plant our hopes for our future with Him.
Remember as you wait by faith, your struggle has a redemptive meaning; God does not waste your suffering. Countless e.g. in bible, most telling is Jesus – suffer the cross to bring redemption to us. Perseverance, - character, and character –hope. My beloved friends in the Lord, God has not abandoned his promise to you. God is committed to you and will fulfill His promises to you. Perhaps you can sense God taking u by the hand today, and say to u “shall we look at the stars tonight?”
Maybe you like Abram, are already making plans for the future with the Eliezer of Damascus of your day. Doing what you can humanly can do to stave off meaningless life, fearing the future. But as you read the story of Abram, you will note all along, God was developing Abram’s character. God wants him to believe that it will be literally through Abram that God will bless the world. God is passionate about blessing the world. God was teaching him not to rely on human reasoning and technology and methods. God was showing Abram that He is above all things, even the very nature of giving an offspring to senior citizens.
God is a missionary on a mission - committed to bless the world, it is His unbreakable bond, but He has His way of doing things, to develop off the charts faith in people, so that the Kingdom of God is established by faith not by fancy human methods and machinery. God was not asking for a huge leap into the darkness, just look at the evidence of the stars, how He ordered the universe and gave it existence. Surely God can do what looks impossible, could He not? Otherwise, God couldn’t be defined as a shield and very great reward, right? Look beyond the odds, and believe God!
When was the last time you really let God know your true feelings? What is churning up inside of you? What’s breaking you today? What are you hearing God say to you? If you persevere with a redemptive faith you will know God is with you even in your deepest struggles. But in face of crushing defeat, such as an old guy like Abram who faced the facts that his body is nearer to grave than the cradle, boy, sometime it is just tough to hang on to God, isn’t it? Yet Abram stake his life on the promise of God, even if it circumstances looked awful! And God credited his faith as righteous!
How do we proceed from here on…
3. PROCEED WITH THE “PASS BETWEEN THE PIECES” COVENANT GOD
What guarantees do you have that God will do what He says? For Abram, God responded with an ancient custom of cutting a covenant that Abram could understand. It is weird to us but not to Abram which is what gen.15:7-18 is all about. The custom of making a covenant, or cutting a covenant, where an animal is cut in half and the parties involved would pass between the half pieces. Significance: the parties involved are making a self-maledictory oath that goes something like this “May it be so done to me if I do not keep my oath and pledge.” The smoking firepot with a blazing torch show of v.17 symbolize God passing through the pieces making an oath. It was a dramatic picture of God saying he will do what he says. It was God who condescended to Abram’s need for a guarantee. Faith in God is not blind, it is bolstered by a covenant. Our trust in Christ is not blind, we have symbols of bread and the cup, reminding us the new covenant made in Jesus’ blood, that He suffered a very real death so that we can rise in the resuurection with great hopes for the future. This is what we as believers proceed on as a guarantee that God will fulfill His plan to bless you and I. It is His unbreakable bond to you!
A story is told by John MacArthur,
Homer and Langley Collyer – sons of a respected NY doctor. Both college grads. Homer studied at Columbia U to be a lawyer. When old Doc Collyer died in early part of 1900’s, sons inherited the family home and estate. These two bachelors- set for life.
But the brothers chose to live a secluded life. Boarded windows, padlocked doors. All utilities including water shut off. No one was seen coming or going from the house. House looks empty. By the time WW2 ended no one in NY society remembered Homer and Langley.
Mar 21, 1947, police received anonymous phone tip. Man died inside the boarded up house. Police tried to force their way in but could not. Entered by 2nd story window. They found Homer’s corpse on a bed. Died clutching Feb 22, 1920 issue of the Jewish Morning Journal, though he had been totally blind for years.
What else they found – the brothers were collectors of junk – broken machines, auto parts, boxes, appliances, folding chairs, musical instruments, rags, all sorts of stuff, and bundles of newspapers. Enormous amount of debris blocked front door. Investigators forced to use upstairs windows for weeks while excavators worked to clear path to the door.
Nearly 3 weeks later, as workmen still hauling heaps of refuse away, someone made a grisly discovery. Langley Collyer’s body was buried beneath a pile of rubbish some 6 ft. away from where Homer died. Langley had been crushed to death in a crude booby trap he had built to protect his precious collection from intruders.
The garbage totaled more than 140 tons. No one ever learned why they did what they did. One old friend recalled tat Langley once said he was saving newspapers so Homer could catch up on his reading if he ever regained his sight.
Instead of enjoying the wealth they had, the inheritance old Doc Collyer had given them, these brothers, blew it all away. What a waste!
If I would hazard a guess, it looks like the motivation for the Collyer brothers to hide themselves from the world can be described in one word – fear! Their whole house was boarded up and padlocked. It was one big panic room! “Trust no one” must have been their motto. And in their paranoia, their home became a fortress. Langley constructed a booby trap to feel safe but he was killed by his own invention! This story shows us that fear can drive even highly educated and privileged people to do some pretty bizarre stuff! They feared what the future would bring. And in the end their fear prevented from truly experiencing life and the great reward their father left them.
Do not fear, God is our shield and very great reward.
1. Consider God’s promise to you
2. Confirm God’s credit rating regarding you
3. Concede to a COVENANT God who will do anything to love you
That is His unbreakable bond to you!
Let this psalm be your response…
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When evil men advance against me
to devour my flesh,
when my enemies and my foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall.
3 Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then will I be confident.
4 One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.
13 I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.
