Greetings in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. (Genesis 12:1b-2a)
God appeared to Abram (Abraham was used called as Abram before God changed his name to Abraham) and gave a great promise: God told Abram that He would make him a great nation, and commanded to leave his native country. Then God continued,
“I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12-2b-3)
God blessed Abram, and also promised to protect Abram against all who cursed Abram. This amazing blessing of God came to Abram, not because Abram was special and different from others, but because God chose Abram according to His good will.
When God appeared to Abram, Abram had just lost Terra his father, who died at the land of Haran. Years ago, Terra took Abram and his brothers left Ur of the Chaldeans. They made a long journey by traveling about 1,000 Km (or 600 miles). Then Terra settled at Haran. The young Abram lived with his father and the rest of the families in Haran. His life on the land of Haran was not so bad, and Abram was getting used to live there. Then everything was better. He could enjoy a stable and prosperous life in Haran. But one day, his father, Terra died. Abram suddenly found that he was the head of the household after his father’s death. Additionally, he was always in stress because he had a wife, Sarai, who was childless because she was not able to conceive. All things were quickly crushing on him. Abram was in extreme pressure, and he did not know what to do next especially as the head of the household. He had sleepless nights. He was at the verge of a complete meltdown.
God came to Abram when he was completely helpless. God gave a great promise that he had never been told before and He also commanded, “Leave your native country, relative and father’s family,” which Aram had to follow However, Abram received in heart the promise that was sincere and directly came from God, not a man. Then he was enormously comforted by His promise and blessings coming with the God’s promise. Following morning, Abram shared this with the rest of the families. All did not listen to Abram. They simply did not believe Abram at all. Only Lot, his nephew, believed. Then Abram and Sarai departed Haran as God had instructed, and Lot went with him. All of his livestock and all the people that he had taken into his household at Haran followed Abram. Abram’s age was seventy-five.
The journey to Canaan from Haran was not an easy one. Abram, Sarai and Lot traveled south through the land as far as Shechem in Canaan, the promised land. The distance traveled was about 1,000 Km (or 600 miles). Many days and nights, they were in wilderness and many dangers were with them.
God is dearly loved Abram, who made such a long journey. Abram met God for the first time in his life, but Abram believed God. This made God pleased. In fact, Abram knew that Sarai was barren, which directly contradicted with God’s promise of making him into a great nation. Abram could not see even one single child of his own that would be a seed for the a great nation promised by God due to his barren wife. Abram clearly knew making a grate nation out of no child was logically impossible. Even so, Abram believed God and His promise. God also appeared to Abram again, and reinforced His promise,
“To your offspring I will give this land, I will give this land.” (Genesis 12:7m)
Abram was greatly comforted by God, who cared for Abram. Upon hearing God, Abram built an altar there to God. Abram gave thanksgiving to God although he did not see anything close to what was promised by God.
In Canaan, Abram could not find one place to settle. He had to move around. Abram faithfully built an altar to God wherever he went. Abram was a man of great faith. After the 1,000 km journey following God and His promise, he could not find a suitable place to settle. An ordinary person would could have been truly discouraged and made complain to God, who caused him to leave Haran which was a good place to live to a place that he even could not find to place to settle. Abram was different. He believed God instead. Although logically it was impossible, he believed God and His promise of making him into a great nation. Abram was patient before God. Wherever he went, he built altar and called His name. He persistently lived a truly God-centered life.
Many people often ask why a hardship happens to a good person, who trusts God and is faithful to God. Abram was the person in that very category. However, Abram did faithfully follow God’s command and did trust His promise. He also built altar wherever he went by calling His name. At the altar, Abram worshiped God and gave thanks to Him. However, his hardships continued following Abram wherever he went.
Then a famine came and hit hard the land. Now Abram could not stay in the land of Canaan any longer. He had to go down to Egypt to live there for a while again because the famine in the land was severe. Indeed, Abram had never expected to move down to Egypt and to live there because he arrived at the promised land although it was difficult to live in the land. Again, he had to make another huge adjustment by going down to Egypt where everything was different from the land of Canaan where he had been trying to settle down. As getting into Egypt, he felt threat also due to Sarai who was a very beautiful woman. He lied about his wife, Sarai as his sister to preserve his life. His life was really at the bottom. Even such a moment, God was with Abram. God protected Abram and Sarai. God kept Abram with Sarai safe, and they could safely get out of Egypt to Canaan. By that time of getting back to Canaan, the severe famine had been gone. God used Egypt to guard Abram and Sarai against the famine in the land of Canaan.
Indeed, Abram confronted many ordeals while following God’s command, but he always built an altar and called His name. His faith was tested many times, but he was always before God faithfully. Seeing his faith, God blessed Abram and his possessions, which kept being increased. Finally, the land where he stayed could not handle God’s blessing. It was too small to accommodate all possessions of both Abram and Lot. Even quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. Abram, then, decided to let Lot go with his livestock and headers. Abram asked Lot to choose the best, and he took to the rest of the land, which was less attractive for his livestock and headers. Again, there Abram built altar to God, and worshiped Him. His faith was rock solid before God.
God saw Abram whose faith never been shaken. God was pleased with Abram. God appeared again to Abram and spoke to Abram,
“Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.” (Genesis 15:1b)
Abram was always faithful to God, but he was not perfect before God. Finally, he opened his heart to God, “O Sovereign God, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son? Since you’ve given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth. You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.”
At last, Abram questioned God and His promise. He still had no children, and he could not imagine how to make him into a great nation. God knew his troubling heart after the long journey with God in faith. God heard Abram, and God comforted Abram. First, God clarified His promise to Abram by telling,
“No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.” (Genesis 15:4b)
Then God took Abram outside and said to him,
“Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!” (Genesis 15:5b)
How much patient God was! Abram confessed his doubt to God, and God heard it. Then God clarified and encouraged Abram. To help Abram’s faith, God took Abram outside and actually showed the stars in the night sky as His sincere promise. God’s love and care removed Abram’s doubt in his heart. Again Abram trusted God and believed His promise, which was impossible.
This is how God respond to His children, i.e,. us. When we are in doubt, we need to talk to God about our doubt in our heart. Then God, who dearly loves us, pours out His Holy Spirit in our hearts and eliminate our doubt, which is constantly surfacing up in our heart because our eyes cannot see any evidences that would lead to His promise. Yes, God never ignores us. Instead He always hears us. He answers us. Here is what God told Abram:
1. I will protect you.
2. I will reward you.
3. I will keep my promise.
4. My promise is really sincere, and it is so great that you even cannot fathom. Although you had no children now, I will make your descendants as many as the stars in a clear night sky.
How did Abram respond?
Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith. (Genesis 15:6)
Yes, Abram believed God. Yes, Abram believed God and His faithfulness, which made God really pleased. God counted Abram as righteous because of his faith on God and His faithfulness, not because just expecting to get the promise.
God is truly pleased when we believe God under a situation that nobody can trust God anymore because there is no evidence at all seen by our eyes. In fact, what matters most is whether we love God and continue our loving relationship with Go. If our faith is built on things that we can see, then what’s the true value of our faith. We live by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7) Abram patiently trusted God and His faithfulness. Yes, His faith was not perfect, but he absolutely trusted God and His faithfulness, which made him counted righteous.
We all have received God’s promise, but we don’t see anything happen in our lives. We don’t see any glimpse that God promise will be fulfilled. Don’t be discourage, but believe God, who is always faithful. Like parents who dearly love and want a true trusting and loving relationship with their children, God really wants our true trust and loving relationship with Him. If our eyes are only fixated things promised instead of having a true and authentic, loving relationship with our God, how would God feel, who is our Ever-Loving Father?
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrew 11:6)