After Abram rescued Lot, God came to him to continue to outline His covenant with him. This devotional reading looks at God’s patience with Abram’s struggling to believe His promises.
Nuggets
- In the sign of the covenant with Abram, God promised him protection and reward — including a son.
- We don’t want to whine to God.
God interacts with us in steps. He gave Abram the covenant by its elements. It was a progression.
There are times, though, when we look at the promise and look at our situation and say, “How in the world is A going to get to B?”
Let's Put It into Context #1
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Devotions in the Abraham the Patriarch series
Let's Put It into Context #2
It was with Abram the covenant that made the Israelites God’s people was established. We may think it is three different covenants, but it really is all part of one.
- Covenant established (Gen. 12: 1-3)
- Blessings of the covenant (Gen. 12: 7; Gen. 13: 14-17)
- Sign of the covenant (Gen. 15: 1-21)
- Acceptance of the responsibilities of the covenant Gen. 1: 17: 1-27)
- Promise of the covenant (Gen. 18: 9-15).
Covenants are agreements, contracts, or promises between two parties to perform the responsibilities listed in the covenant. The parties can either have equal standing or be unequal parties, such as kings and subjects. When parties had unequal footing, the one in the king position would outline the protection offered through the agreement, and the subjects would pledge their loyalty to the king.
God always initiated and designed the covenants made between He and humans. This is important because it solidifies our position as recipient, not contributor. We are to accept what God offers. Covenants from beginning to end are about God.
While we do have free will to accept salvation and enter into a covenant with God, it is an all-inclusive covenant. Those who do not obey His covenant will be punished.
A bond would be formed to mutually benefit both parties. Acceptance of the responsibilities of the covenant is shown by giving an oath.
There were several elements in covenants. Many included a time of fellowship centered around a meal.
Others included shedding of blood, usually an animal given as a sacrifice. A sacrifice was especially appropriate as a penance when one of the parties was offended. It was to precede a reconciliation.
There would be provisions for rewards and punishments when the agreement was kept or broken. These blessings and cursings show that God will bless obedience and punish disobedience.
Let's Put It into Context #3
“Some time later …” (Gen. 15: 1 NLT)
Moses wasn’t good about putting things on a timeline. Someone has gone back and tried.
I think it just helps trying to put things into perspective. Here is what we know so far and the next entry on the timeline.
- 1960 BC — Abram born (Gen. 25: 7)
- 1890 BC — Terah, Abram, Sarai, and Lot move from Ur to Haran (Gen. 11: 31)
- 1885 BC — Abram called at age 75 (Gen. 12: 1-3)
- c. 1880 – 1875 BC — Abram defeats King Chedorkiamer to rescue Lot (Gen. 14)
- 1875 BC — God promises an 85-year-old Abram that he will have a son (Gen. 15)
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Depending on when the events of Genesis 14 happened, this could be right after Abram rescued Lot. I can see the importance of God reaffirming His covenant with Abram at that time.
God Comes to Abram
“Some time later, the LORD spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great’” (Gen. 15: 1 NLT)
In the sign of the covenant with Abram, God promised him protection and reward.
Abram and God had a relationship going. This is the fourth time we have see that God appeared to Abram.
- Abram’s call (Gen. 12: 1-3)
- God giving Abram land (Gen. 12: 7)
- God’s clarification of the land He was giving him (Gen. 13: 14)
For 10 years, Abram has been walking with God, following His commandments. Sometimes, he did a good job. Sometimes, he didn’t.
God never gave up on Abram. He knew Abram would become Abraham, the father of Israel.
On this day, God came to Abram. He had a revelation for him. (Yeah, God still reveals Himself to us.)
God told Abram not to fear. What did Abram have to fear?
- Famine, which had occurred and may again (Gen. 13)
- War, which already had occurred once and probably would again (Gen. 14).
- Persecution, considering he was surrounded by idol worshipers.
- Pain, because it is customary to humans.
Abram already knew God would protect Him. He showed him that in Egypt (Gen. 13).
I hadn’t thought about this. Where we at when Genesis 14 ended?
Abram had just had a great victory over the King of Elam and his cronies. Even though he was a descendant of Shem as Abram was, that doesn’t mean he couldn’t have come back and tried Round 2.
We don’t know how long “Some time later …” (Gen. 15: 1 NLT) was. Maybe, that is why God used shield as protection.
Personally, I don’t think God would have waited too long — but his clock and calendar are different than ours.
So, yeah — afraid. Maclaren thought Abram had grown despondent.
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But here God came with assurance. Remember, He had come to Abram with reassurance after he and Lot had separated. That was how God sanctified Abram — through separations.
God had also stepped in when Abram had deceived the Pharaoh about Sarai being his sister and not his wife.
Remember, God had come to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden after the original sin. He knew they had sinned, and He came anyway.
God knew we were going to sin, and He created us anyway.
How many times will God come for us? How many times will we make Him?
God promised Abram to protect and reward/fulfillment of desires him, which Munger said are the two things we need in this world. But is that really what the Hebrew says?
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After Abram had not accepted the spoils of the war, this would have been affirming. But is that really what the Hebrew says?
“After these things the Devar Hashem came unto Avram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Avram; I am thy mogen, [shield, buckler, protector, defense] and thy exceeding great sachar (reward)” (Gen. 15: 1 OJB).
God said, “I am they shield and reward.” Not that “… your reward will be great” (Gen. 15: 1 NLT).
Will we have great rewards? Definitely.
A relationship with God is the greatest reward we can have.
It isn’t that we will live eternally in Heaven. It is that we will live eternally with God.
If you can’t stand to live with God now, you aren’t going to Heaven. If you can’t stand to do His laws and commandments by His interpretation, you aren’t going to Heaven.
Because God Himself is our reward, we have a surety of Him being our shield. He will keep us safe. King said He would defend us by his providence and grace.
King also said, “God is the portion of His people. He gives them Himself.” What did he mean by that?”
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God is our portion means He is the definitive source of our happiness, fulfillment, and inheritance. In all things, we can be content in Him.
Does that mean we won’t die? Won’t have accidents? Won’t have periods of trials?
No. But God will be right there with us.
Our joy and happiness — in fact, life current and eternal — is only through Him.
“… If God is for us, who can ever be against us?” (Rom. 8: 31 NLT).
If God is for us, what do we have to fear?
Oh, yes. Satan is a big thing — but God is bigger. Others and what they can do to us — but God is bigger.
I know. Some of the trials we are called to endure are huge and very hurtful.
As I write this, my heart breaks for the trial Erika Kirk is going through right now. To lose her husband. To have her husband’s assassination shown on many videos. To have two small children who will never have memories of their loving father.
But they will have videos of their dad standing up for his faith — which is why he was murdered.
- “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1: 27 NLT).
- “Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin” (Lev. 18: 22 NLT).
- “Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh” Phil. 3: 2 ESV).
- “A woman must not put on men’s clothing, and a man must not wear women’s clothing. Anyone who does this is detestable in the sight of the Lord your God” (Deut. 22: 5 NLT).
- Jesus said, “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved” (Mt. 5: 17-18 NLT).
God doesn’t want us to be afraid to stand up for our belief in Him.
What Good Are All Your Blessings?
“But Abram replied, ‘O Sovereign Lord, 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’” (Gen. 15: 2-3 NLT)
We don’t want to whine to God.
Importantly, God had promised Abram a son. He was just taking a while to fulfill that promise.
God was looking into the future when He came to Abram to repeat the promise of the covenant. Abram was looking into the future, too, but he wasn’t seeing what God was seeing. He didn’t see how he was going to get there.
What Abram was seeing was that he was old and Sarai was old. That left a servant for his heir – not exactly what God was promising.
I like how Parker put it. He wrote, “God had given Abram everything but a child, and therefore it seemed to him that all this flow of God’s love was running into a pool where it could only stand still.”
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Oh yeah. This was probably building up for a while. Ten years is a long time to wait.
Abram wasn’t just saying, “I don’t have a son.” He was saying, “I can’t take my eyes off of today’s problems, so they are blocking the view of tomorrow.”
Don’t we get tunnel vision in times like that, too? We focus on problems, not promises.
The thing is we have to watch how we approach God. We don’t want to whine. We definitely don’t want to doubt.
We need to remember that we can be rock solid when we are standing on God’s promises. If He has promised it, He will see it through to completion.
It had to take faith — even more faith than Abram realized.
The problem is that the promise was going to take years to come to fruition. Abram had to wait a long time.
Abram wasn’t doubting. He was just impatient.
Notice, God wasn’t slapping Abram down for questioning. He wasn’t upset at Abram because he was going through a hard time.
Just the opposite. “I am your shied and your reward because you belong to Me. You are mine.”
It doesn’t matter if our trials come through nature or Satan himself – even if we bring them on ourselves — God is right there with us.
Making the Connections #1
Ooo, baby. The first recording of Abram carrying on a conversation with God — and Abram whines. He isn’t happy with how God is dealing with him.
Taking his life in his hands, isn’t Abram?
Maclaren thought it wasn’t distrust that made Abram ask his question. He thought he was looking for the assurance God was giving Him. Maybe there was a little hope that God was saying nine months from then would be the day.
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God knows unbelief from something else. We aren’t going to fool Him.
And remember, God is fine with steps. He allows processing in faith.
Even when we question, we have to be content where we are. If we aren’t content with what He has given us, why should He give us something “bigger” and “better”?
We shouldn’t rail against God about Him working on His time schedule instead of ours. He has a plan for each of our lives, and if we are kicking and screaming on what is happening in our plan, how does that tell Him we think His plan is best?
My spiritual tornado went a long way in showing me how to be content where I was. It was easy when I had been where I thought I was supposed to be. I had to prove that I could be content when things were no longer smooth, familiar, and comfortable.
Making the Connections #2
Munger had a great discussion of what it means to walk with God and how Abram did that. He wrote,
“Abram is the first man who had a full religious equipment. He had open relations to God; he had gained the secret of worship; he had a clear sense of duty, and a governing principle, namely, faith or trust in God.”
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- Relationship
- Worship
- Duty
- Principle
- Faith
That is a good list. What are God’s principles? His laws and commandments that we are to keep and not rewrite.
Making the Connections #3
Do we think that, just because God made a covenant with Abram, it should be easy? It doesn’t work that way.
Do we think that, just because God made a covenant with Noah not to flood the entire world again, it should be easy? There is still flooding. People still drown in the flooding – even young kids.
At the moment God came to Abram, it sounds like he was thinking it was hard to keep his end of the covenant. God came to him anyway.
We keep saying that God is the God of the big things and the small things. God is also the God of the good times and the bad times.
God is in every aspect of our lives. He is all-seeing and all-knowing.
Making the Connections #4
Watson talked about why nothing, but God, can be our reward.
- The shiny things of sin may look pretty but end up being a lie.
- “Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth” (Ps. 73: 25 NLT).
How Do We Apply This?
- Build God an altar.
- Praise Him.
- Hold tight to God.
- Be grateful for His protection.
- Don’t fear our surrounding enemies.
- Don’t fear threatening dangers.
- Don’t fear trials in which we must go through.
- Don’t fear to sacrifice possessions and desires in God’s name.
- Be confident in God.
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Father God. Let our faith be so that You come to us as You did Abram. Let our focus to be fully on You and Your Will, not this world. Amen.
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