Tuesday, May 1, 2012

FAITH of Abram


Abram lacked the very thing that was most important to him—an heir.  But nothing is beyond possibility with God, including promising a child to a couple who are long past their child-bearing years.  Is anything too hard for the Lord?  God promised not only a child but descendants like the stars for number and like the sand of the seashore.  What good thing does your heart desire, that God as a loving Father would delight to give you?  Do you believe that He is not only able but ready to bless you abundantly?  Will you believe God’s promises to “give you the desires of your heart” (Ps 37:4)?  Abram “believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” (Gen 15:6).

God also promised Abram the land where He had brought him, “a good and large land,” “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exod 3:6), with the lush Jordan valley being “well watered everywhere . . . like the garden of the Lord” (Gen 13:10).  God had made a covenant with Abram (12:1-3), but now Abram asks for a sign that the covenant will really take place(15:8).  God grants him the sign (vv. 9-11,17), but also cautions him that the promise will not be fulfilled in his lifetime (vv. 12-16).  Only to his heirs will the covenant be fulfilled (v. 18).  What kind of faith did God require of Abram?  What kind of faith does He require of me?  Study Heb 11:8-19,39-40.

By faith Abram obeyed the Lord and Blessing come on his promise, so it is to me and you, its only by trusting and obeying we can be happy with the promises of God, nothing is impossible to Him. 

Edwin Reynolds, Ph.D.