Once Abram was sadly thinking about his life for having no kids (Genesis 15:1-6). Time went by so quickly and he was now eighty years something, very old. Suddenly, slow but sure, fear started to come and haunt his heart, “Ah…will I die without any kids?” he whispered softly in his heart.
In this situation God came to him and said, “Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward” (Genesis 15:1)
What was raging in his heart suddenly coming out without any order, “LORD God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir” (vv. 2-3)
But God answered patiently, “This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir” (v. 4).
Maybe he thought in his heart, “Ah… that promise again. I knew it for so long since years ago, but the truth? Up to now, I have no kids.”
Don’t we often undergo what Abram did? We receive God’s promise but for years it hasn’t been fulfilled yet. We have become tired to wait, we have become tired to have faith. We have started to lose our faith to His promise. However, somehow, God seems knows the condition of our heart. In those times, God often comes and confirms His promise. As you are reading this article, it might be a confirmation to you. But even though God has confirmed it, we are still difficult to rise to believe it.
“Don’t be afraid,” God knows it. That’s why this time not only He spoke His Word to confirm His promise but also He took Abram out to gaze the stars on the sky and started to count them. After the ‘view’ of the stars on the sky strongly printed in his memory, God spoke, “So shall thy seed be” (v. 5)
Abram started to believe again and he could continue his faith journey now. And the Bible stated, God reckoned it as a truth.
What did God actually want to say and teach Abram about at that time and to us now?
- Our sadness and fear are never reckoned as truth before God, no matter how sad we are. What is reckoned as a truth is our faith. So instead of being sad, we’d better believe. Switch our sadness and fear to faith, whatever the situation is, we are a righteous man before God.
- What causes us often to lose our faith to His promise is the promise hasn’t been strongly imprinted in our mind yet.
That’s why after receiving His promise, we have to assure that it is strongly imprinted in our mind so we will not lose our faith. We have to keep injecting it in our mind until it ingrains in our mind and changes to be a strong conviction, not unwavering by anything or anyone. How? Keep imagining His promise happens in our lives until our whole mind, emotion, and decision influenced by it.
I pray that your faith starts to rise up until all your sadness disappears and changes into joy because you trust His promise.
Don’t be sad, rather than sad it’s better to believe, then the belief that turns sadness into joy will be yours!
Also read: Following King of Sodom or King of Salem.
