God Keeps His Word

Genesis 15: 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, and 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, (NRAV)

"I wouldn't be here if I did not trust You, Lord, but here it is some years later, and I don't really have a child of my own." These might have been the words of Abraham to God. "I had enough faith to leave my family and homeland to come here. You haven't kept Your end of the bargain..." In some ways, we have been here ourselves. We find ourselves at an interesting point of our lives and wonder why or what's next. God always has an answer. We usually don't have patience. Abram, whose name had not yet been changed, then is treated to a mysterious, if not frightening, experience. Abram did as God told him and brought sacrificial animals and waited. It was as the sun was going down that Abram fell into a deep sleep and "a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him." Then God shared His promise again that the land promised to Abram and his descendants would be his indeed; and the second part of the promise that his descendants would be like the stars of the sky, too numerous to count. This from the God whose name and whose promises are "I am." God spoke at the beginning of this passage with the declaration, "I am your shield; your reward shall be great."

God's promise was fulfilled, for we know the rest of the story, as it will in your life. If we believe that God has a purpose and plan for our life, we should know that God travels with us and will not forsake us nor deny us that which God promises. To all who believe in His Son, Jesus we were given the promise of fullness of life, and on top of that, the results of the work to which we have committed ourselves. The key is trust which should bless us with patience. Our clocks and the clock of God are not the same. God has a way of counting and keeping time that does not always match ours. But that which God promises in covenant is kept. Ours is the New Covenant in Jesus and serves to give us that trust and hope that will see us through whatever may come our way as a test or challenge. We have only to stay connected with God in all things and in all ways.

PRAYER: Loving God, bless us with trust and patience, for we need to have hope that You are with us, watching and loving us, and will bless us with that which will come our way. In Christ Jesus we pray, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!

Eradio Valverde