In Gen 12, God made a promise to Abraham, that
• He will give Abraham a land – “the land I will show you” (12:1)
• He will make him into a great nation; He will make his name great
• He will be blessing, and become a blessing to others. The world will be blessed through him.
Here we see the heart of God - He wants to bless us. Jesus, the descendant of Abraham will come through the nation of Israel. His promises hold true. God has not changed. He still want to bless you today.
It’s easy for us to look back and say, God can be trusted. But as we face the challenges of each day, we are literally walking by faith - trusting a faithful God.
For Abraham, the lesson of faith was a journey, literally.
Verse 4 says Abram was 75 years when he left home.
• Gen 21:5 says Abraham was 100 when Isaac was born.
• It was a delay of 25 years from the time God first made the promise.
• In fact, if God would have given him a son right then, it would still be a miracle. Sarah would be 65 years old (cf. Gen 17:18)
But a wait of 25 years is really a long time.
• Yet what God has promised, still comes true!
• God led Abraham from Gen 12-21 - a journey of 25 years before Abraham saw what God has promised becomes a reality.
Abraham grew in faith, and came to know God more. He went through quite a bit - we see that in the next few chapters after Gen 12. Look at what happened after receiving God’s promise –
• 12:10 – there was a famine in the land and he went down to Egypt. He embarassed himself when he lied to Pharoah about Sarai, afraid that they would take her away.
• 13:7 – conflict between his herdsmen and his nephew Lot’s, and they went on separate ways.
• Later in Gen 14 he has to rescue Lot. He fought with the Babylonian kings who took Lot captive, and won the battle.
You see, all these doesn’t help in giving Abram the confidence that he will be given a great land by God, and be blessed with a great nation & great name.
God came to him in a vision and reassure him in 15:1.
• Sometimes, it’s hard to believe that God is blessing you when you’ve to go through so much.
• But God will come to you and reassure you again.
At this point, Abram must have felt discouraged, because when God says in 15:1, “your very great reward” (your reward will be very great), Abram’s response: 15:2-3
• In those days, if a man was childless, there were laws that enabled them to “adopt” one of their servants as son (to make sure the estate did not fall into somebody else’s hands).
• It then declared that if (the master) should have a son of his own, the son would take a double share of the inheritance; the servant would be next in order of inheritance to take his proper share.
• But if the master died childless, the servant became his sole heir.
Abraham believes he needs that kind of a plan… a plan “B” in his life.
• Plan “A” (God’s promise) doesn’t seem to be coming along soon.
• So, he makes plan to have his trusted servant Eliezer be his heir.
The long wait wasn’t easy for Abraham.
• It would not be easy for any of us.
• We’ve got to learn to WAIT for the Lord.
Why the need to wait?
• Interesting we saw many great men and women of God in the Scriptures waited for the Lord.
• We look at Abraham. We see Moses – spent 40 years in the wilderness tending the flock before God called him.
• We see David - Prophet Samuel went to his house, according to God’s instruction, and anointed him to be the future King of Israel. He was then a boy shepherding flock. It was 7 years later that he became King.
We look at the Scriptures, and then we understand.
• The wait was for meant for God. It was meant for us.
• We need the WAIT – to know Him, to deepen our trust in Him, to make us stronger in faith.
Let me share with you this poem, author unknown:
Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried:
Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,
And the Master so gently said, “Child, you must wait.”
“Wait? You say, wait!” was my indignant reply.
“Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!”
Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate
As my Master replied once again, “You must wait.”
So, I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut
And grumbled to God, “So, I’m waiting.... for what?”
He came near, and His eyes wept with mine,
And he tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens, and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead, and cause mountains to run.
All you seek, I could give, and pleased you would be.
You would have what you want - but, you wouldn’t know Me.
You’d not know the depth of My love for each saint;
You’d not know the power that I give to the faint;
You’d not learn to see through the clouds of despair;
You’d not learn to trust just by knowing I’m there;
You’d not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence were all you could see.
You’d never experience that fullness of love
As the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove;
You’d know that I give and I save.... (for a start),
But you’d not know the depth of the beat of My heart. The glow of My comfort late into the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight,
The depth that’s beyond getting just what you asked
Of an infinite God, who makes what you have LAST.
You’d never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that "My grace is sufficient for Thee."
Yes, your dreams for your loved one overnight would come true,
But, oh, what a loss! If I lost what I’m doing in you!
So, be silent, My Child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me.
And though oft’ may My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still, "WAIT."
… Author Unknown
I like how one pastor puts it (Jeff Strite, from sermoncentral):
“God isn’t in the business of granting wishes and handing out gifts. He’s not some Santa Claus type guy, making a list and checking it twice, trying to find out who’s naughty and nice. He isn’t up there trying to figure out who get this gift and who gets that gift. God is not in the business of granting wishes. God is in the business of taking people who are not what they should be, and building them up to be what He knows they can be. AND – at times – that means that He won’t give us what we believe we need WHEN we believe we need it. ”
Most of the time, it is because we are not ready to receive the gift. We lacked the maturity, we are impatient, and we are greedy; we lack the faith, the trust in God’s goodness…
No wonder Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV) says “…those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
• ’Waiting’ and being ’strengthen’ really doesn’t go together, but it does spiritually. The one who waits is the one who put his trust in God, and places his hope in God (NIV puts it straight).
• No wonder Isaiah has to draw our attention in the preceding verses (Isaiah 40:28-30). True strength comes from our Creator, the Almighty God.
Look at how God reassure Abram. He took him outside to see the stars.
• 15:6 “Look up at the heavens and count the stars – if indeed you can count them.”
• Look at what God said earlier – 13:14 “Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. 15All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.
He was told to LOOK UP, and LIFT UP YOUR EYES and look at the land…
• “Look and remember what I’ve said!”
• Instead of looking at his own inability and weakness, Abram was asked to look at the stars, and be comforted by the ability of the Creator God.
• If God can create so many stars – that we cannot count – He can surely fulfill His promise to Abram.
God has been reassuring him, a couple of times:
• 15:6 “Look up at the heavens and count the stars – if indeed you can count them.”
• 13:16 - I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.”
• 22:17a “I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.”
God assures him through that which can be seen, and draws him to trust Him for that which can yet be seen. Look at the countless stars, dust and sand, and Abram would understand that nothing is impossible with God.
What God promise will surely come true, no matter what you tell yourself, no matter what the circumstances tell you.
• What do we learn here - TAKE GOD AT HIS WORD.
• What God says, He will do. And that’s not just the blessings, but the judgments too. When God says sinners will be judged, be assured too that discipline and judgment will come.
• In Gen 19 God told Abraham that He is going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of their wickedness, and He did it.
• So don’t rationalize away God’s Word. Just believe it.
When I looked at Abraham, you must really appreciate him. He was really a man of faith, right from the beginning.
• Because when God asked him to “leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” (12:1), he really packed his bags and moved.
• Yet his faith wasn’t there yet - God continues to build him up over the next 25 years. He still grows in faith. Ultimately, he reached the extent of being able to offer his son Isaac back to God, if He said so.
This tells us there’s room for improvement for us.
• God is working in our lives. There may be lots of waiting time, persevering time, when we are stretched to our limits. Because we need to grow in faith, like Abraham. God will lead us step-by-step, to an ever-increasing faith in Him.
• Like muscle, we grow strong when we are stretched.
• Trust God in the little things, before we can even learn to trust Him for big things.
God is One who keeps His promises and the promises are meant for our good. God wants to BLESS us. Therefore:
1. There is nothing to fear in our relationship with the Lord.
• He is not someone to flee from, but rather one to run to. This morning what is your view of God? Yes, we are to fear the Lord, in the sense of respecting him and obeying him. But he is not a mean tyrant or bully. He is on our side.
• He said to Abraham, “I am your shield.” (15:1) He desires to protect us and provide for us. Who would run from a God like that?
2. God can bring blessing into our lives, even when we don’t see what He could possibly do.
• Even when God promises blessings, sometimes, somehow we think they aren’t true. We tend to plot and scheme because we don’t think we can trust Him.
• This morning, ask yourself: Do you really believe that God wants to, and could bless you? Could your plan be greater or better than what an Almighty God could do? Lean on Him and trust Him.
