Genesis 15:1 –
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.”
God has big plans for Abram, big promises and great rewards … all he has to do is to wait for the blessing. How many times have I promised you something and not followed through?? I tend to be a flake, God does not. He had made this promise before and as Abram got older his faith grew weaker. He was beginning to think “HOW” … or “IF” …
This is where faith comes in and must be the reason for hope. I tend to believe if God spoke to me I would follow his guidance … but then again, I don’t do this all the time and it causes problems. You will see Abram has some problems soon because he thinks he can fix the problem. God tends to like to “show off” in the bottom of the ninth down by 2, 2 outs, 2 on …. with the pitcher is coming to bat (for those who don’t know baseball … pitchers can’t hit … now you’d also suspect the coach would bring in a “pinch hitter” … but we are off track now;). Back to the game … odds look grim … but that’s when he likes us to say … look how crazy that worked out!!
“There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why… I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?” – Robert F Kennedy. These are powerful words today, when RFK spoke them in the 60’s and thousands of years ago with Abram. Abram was asking WHY and God came and tried to calm him and tell him it’s not only that his promise would hold true, but also the hardships they would face in Egypt.
For me personally I get my dreams and Gods wishes confused daily … I am sure Abram was the same way. He needed a son for his dreams AND Gods wishes to come to being. He and Sarai were old and well past child bearing years … so God spoke to him … AGAIN. Wonder if he “got it” this time??
Proverb 10:1 – “A wise child brings joy to a father; a foolish child brings grief to a mother.”