God Speaks
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.”
2 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. 3 You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.”
4 Then the Lord said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.” 5 Then the Lord 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!”
6 And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.
7 Then the Lord told him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession.”
8 But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, how can I be sure that I will actually possess it?”
9 The Lord told him, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 So Abram presented all these to him and killed them. Then he cut each animal down the middle and laid the halves side by side; he did not, however, cut the birds in half. 11 Some vultures swooped down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away.
12 As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a terrifying darkness came down over him. 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. 14 But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth. 15 (As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.) 16 After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction.”
17 After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses. 18 So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said, “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River— 19 the land now occupied by the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”
Source: New Living Translation: BibleGateway.com
We Respond
NOTICE: Instead of focusing for a whole week on one book of the Bible and alternating weeks on Old Testament (OT), Wisdom Literature (WL), New Testament (NT), PraythrutheBible.com is now going to alternate them daily. Beginning Monday, February 21, 2022, each weekday post will feature a passage from the OT, WL, NT consecutively. That way if a person is studying a particular book in the Bible, they don’t have to wait for three weeks for the posts to return to it (only three days). The books may not be addressed in the order they are arranged in the canon of scripture; however, the chapters of each book will follow consecutively.
Reflection: The first thing God said when He appeared to Abram was, “Do not be afraid. I AM with you. I will protect you.” Abram asked God honest questions. God set Abram’s thinking straight by pointing to the vast number of stars that He had created. Abram believed God’s promise, and God counted that to him as righteousness. When Abram wanted confirmation of this promise, the LORD performed a ritual commonly used to validate a covenant (a very solemn promise). In this case it was a one-way, eternal promise. God also told Abram what would happen to his many descendants in the distant future (of whom he had not even one at this time).
Prayer: Dear God of Abram (later Abraham), thank You for telling him not to be afraid. I need to be in awe of You because of Your great love for me, not cringe in fear that You are about to swat or punish me. Thanks for letting him question You. It shows that You allow honest questions for understanding and clarification, not refusal and rebellion. I trust You to keep Your promises, LORD. I can’t keep mine unless You clean me up and give me Your righteousness, like You did him. Would You be so kind as to give me a glimpse of the future You have planned, just like You did for Abram? Thank You either way. I know that You always do what is best. AMEN
Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, if He wants you to work on the suggestions below or something else more personal that He points out.)
- I will tell God that I trust Him, then show it by obeying something specific that He points out.
- I will tell the LORD at least five things about Him that take my breath away.
- I will tell someone who doesn’t yet believe in Him how great and awesome God is.
- I will join with others in praising and worshiping God at least once this week.
Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.