The God of Abraham Praise
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 NRSV
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.” 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?” And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” 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.” 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.” And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.
Then he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.” But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” 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.” 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. 1And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him.
When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 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 . . .”
BELIEF AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
Hymn Tune: The God of Abraham Praise (Traditional Hebrew melody)
Belief and righteousness are hallmarks of a man
Who walks with God, choosing to follow God’s command.
For Abram, trusting God brought great uncertainty.
He knew not where but knew that God was leading him.
The Lord Almighty’s Word was Abram’s rock of faith,
Not what he saw or thought directed all his way.
He rested in the Lord, who said “Don’t be afraid,
For I will guard you and will make you very great.”
The life of faith in God, belief and righteousness,
Still has its times of doubt when faith is put to test.
“How can descendants come from childless wife and man?
Without an heir, how can God work his promised plan?”
The God of Abram left no ambiguity
About the future or of Abram’s progeny.
“You see the stars above that light the sky at night?
Then know that I will give you great posterity.”
In ceremony dark, to form his covenant,
God chose a sacrifice of cow, goat, ram and birds.
In smoking pot and flame, God’s presence manifest,
He said, “I will fulfill My Word, you need but rest.”
“Rest on My sovereign grace, rest on my power to save,
Rest on the promises I made to make you great.
Should you have cause to doubt, remember this display
Where I have made a solemn oath to you today.”
Belief and righteousness, the forming of a man,
A man of faithful character, a man who stands
Upon the Word of God, who trusts and will obey,
Is formed in crucibles of trial and delay.
The life of faith is not a life of mounting up
With wings but is a life of taking steps of trust.
When faith is tried and proved, when one has stood the test,
Belief and righteousness show clearly God has blessed.
(last stanza adapted from Oswald Chambers)
How Firm a Foundation
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Corinthians 4.15).
