(Genesis 15:1-21) After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying,
“Do not fear, Abram,
I am a shield to you;
Your reward shall be very great.”
I am a shield to you;
Your reward shall be very great.”
2 Abram said, “O Lord God, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.” 4 Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” 5 And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. 7 And He said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.” 8 He said, “O Lord God, how may I know that I will possess it?” 9 So He said to him, “Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds. 11 The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.
12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. 14 But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. 15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 16 Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”
17 It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying,
“To your descendants I have given this land,
From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:
From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:
19 the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite 20 and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim 21 and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.”
TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:
God's message of protection and blessing came to Abram right after he turned down the loot as a reward from the king of Sodom. I guess Abram didn't totally trust God's plan and promise to him about having many, many descendants - because Abram pointed out the fact that he and Sarai still didn't have a son. But, if God promised him descendants, he should have realized that God would definitely provide him with at least one son!
I suppose up until that point, Abram believed that there was a God, and that God was powerful and helpful, etc. But then in verse 6, Abram finally became a true believer, putting his faith IN God and became a "Christian"... as several places in the new testament use this term that God "reckoned it to him as righteousness" (as Jesus' work on the cross was retroactive, see Galatians 3:6, James 2:23).
Even though God gave Abram a promise of land, seed and blessings, and even though Abram now believed IN God, Abram still wanted to see or have a guarantee. So God made a covenant (a contract) with Abram in the way that society did back in those days. But instead of both walking through the animal halves, God put Abram to sleep and went through the animal halves alone.
People would typically walk between the animals halves together, which implied that if anyone broke the agreement, they would end up like the dead animals. Knowing that there was no way Abram or his descendants could keep the covenant, God secured the promise by walking through it alone. The land would always belong to the Israelites... but they would not always be in possession of it. THAT would depend on their level of obedience.
In verses 13 and 14, we see a prophesy that the Israelites would end up in Egypt, n slavery, for 400 years. Then, not only would God bring them out, they were going to exit with many possessions. God also gave Abram a prophesy about the Israelites not entering the promised land right away! We know that was going to happen because of the descendants' disobedience.
But now I'm curious, was the slavery and oppression going to happen because Abram asked for a guarantee, since there may have been a trace of doubt there???
Like, for example, after reading about how God promises to guide us in strength and wisdom, but we ask Him for signs, or we have doubt - does God allow a few more lessons and challenges to come our way? In that way - if and when we trust in Him throughout these tests and trials - we can see Him work things out for good.
I'm not talking about the times when we make mistakes and then expect God to fix everything for us. I'm just talking about the times we doubt that God's "got this". Now, the prophesied slavery may not have been a consequence to Abram's request for proof. We can only speculate... so no matter the reasons, I believe that being allowed to go through challenges is usually the only way we CAN grow in our faith. as well as be an effective testimony to those around us. How else could we ever say that God is always there for us - if we never go through anything?...
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