Blogging Genesis (Genesis 15)
5 Then
the Lord brought Abram outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the
stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your
descendants be.”
Genesis 15: 6 And he believed in the Lord, and He
accounted it to him for righteousness.
In the Bible, Abraham is a heroic figure. New Testament writers reference him as an
example of faith that Christians should emulate (Romans 4; Galatians 3; Hebrews
11). Abraham’s faith is on display in Genesis
15 when God appeared to reiterate the give the land of Canaan as an inheritance
to Abraham’s descendants. Genesis 15: 6
says that Abraham “believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for
righteousness.”
By faith alone God imputed righteousness to Abraham. In other words, Abraham believed in God, and God
believed in Abraham.
But 2 sentences later, the patriarchal paragon of faith
asks, “Lord God, how shall I know that I will
inherit it?” (Genesis 15:8)
“How shall I know?”
After all that “faith” stuff in verse 6, Abraham was back to
wanting proof, evidence. Lord, give me a
sign!
And God did. In a vision and in a prophetic revelation, the
Lord reassured Abram that his descendants would possess the land of Canaan as
their inheritance from the Lord. Because
the Lord believed that Abraham would be faithful.
Later, God assured Abraham and Sarah that they would
conceive a son --- together. And Abraham
and Sarah, both of whom are in the Hebrews 11 faith hall of fame --- Abraham
and Sarah both laughed, in God’s face
and behind His back, respectively.
Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his
heart, “Shall a child be born to a
man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old,
bear a child?” (Genesis 17:17 )
Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I
have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”( Genesis 18:12)
Abraham believed God, but then he needed a sign. And then Abraham believed God, but then he
thought the whole thing was falling-out-on-the-floor
ridiculously funny.
Saving faith can act in a moment to move us to repent of our
sins, confess with our mouths, and truly believe in our hearts that Jesus rose
from the dead. In that moment, God
imputes the righteousness of Jesus to our eternal account. But then we walk out into the world.
In the world, you face the stress of making a life with your
(literally) old, running a business west of
Sodom and Gomorrah, supervising a
household of hundreds, and keeping everybody alive in between famines and raids
by whichever king was out looking for slaves that afternoon. 
Nothing in human life is absolutely constant, not even
faith. And that is why Christians NEED the
experience of regular worship and the fellowship of other believers. We are not greater than Abraham.
Like Abraham, we refresh our faith in worship
where we re-experience fellowship with God and where we are reminded what the
Word of God says.
---Anderson T. Graves II is a
writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural
leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in
Fairfield, Alabama; executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth
Networking Organization (SAYNO);
and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for
Human Development (NIHD).
Subscribe to my personal blog www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
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Support by check or money order may be mailed to
Miles Chapel CME Church
P O Box 132
Fairfield, Al 35064
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