Dear Friends,
We hope this week's devotional will encourage you in your spiritual walk. We give thanks to Michael Lund, Library Manager, for writing this devotional.
You are welcome to share this and include it in your church newsletters if you wish; we just ask that you please give credit to NTC and the author. Thank you!
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 (NRSVUE)
1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” 4 But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” 5 He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.
7 Then he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.” 8 But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” 9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other, but he did not cut the birds in two. 11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him. …
17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates.
Devotional Thought
Last Sunday, I was at church talking to a lady whose 85th birthday was a few days off. She was reiterating the lyrics of the song we’d just sung - Goodness of God – recalling the constant faithfulness of God throughout her long life, her children’s lives, her grandkids’ lives.
I wonder if Abram felt the same way at the start of this passage: having moved to a different land following God’s calling, he was very wealthy, but still fearing for his life and warring against those who captured his nephew (Gen 12-14). He now receives another promise from God, this time for a very great reward… but Abram has greater concerns: that when he dies, he has no child of his own to pass it on to. He’d been promised offspring (Gen. 12:7), but this didn’t seem realistic anymore given their old age.
Scripture reads that God answers Abram, saying his ‘very own issue’ (‘own flesh and blood’) will be his heir. At God’s instruction, Abram takes a long, repeated look toward heaven, counting the stars (v.5), and his questioning and uncertainty turn to faith in the Creator God. He believes in the impossible because the Lord has revealed it to him.
Amidst all the remarkable things in this passage – the Lord referring to himself as Yahweh (v. 7), God making a one-sided covenant which required nothing from Abram (v.18), and even God personally ‘making’/ ‘cutting’ the covenant in swearing by his self / his divine life (Fretheim, NIB, 1994, p. 446) – we read verse 6: “And he believed the Lord, and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.” Just as priests approve an offering, the Lord approved Abram’s response of faith.
This is the challenge of Abram’s example, to bring our questions and protests to God while continuing to trust in his faithfulness.
I’m writing this devotional in the literal calm before the storm, with tropical cyclone Alfred off the coast now moving westward. It’s expected to make landfall in Southeast Queensland within 48 hours. Uncertainty remains, along with anxiety, questions of comfort and safety, and the inevitability of rebuilding. Yet God’s faithfulness remains.
Prayer
O Lord God, forgive us for the times we have failed to trust you; for the times when we have let uncertainty overshadow your love and faithfulness. Help us to trust in you more each day. Amen.
Kind regards,
Michael Lund