Genesis 15:13-21 (ESV)

Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, 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 offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

God answers Abram’s insolent question in great detail. However, it starts out sounding more like a curse than a blessing. Four centuries of slavery is beyond horrible, but Abram’s descendants will eventually possess this land.

This plan isn’t designed to go easy on Abram or his descendants; it’s designed to glorify God. His power and holiness will be manifested over and over. Meanwhile, man’s depravity will be showcased from every angle.

That’s what history is – a study of God’s goodness and man’s badness. That’s the point of, “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

Abram asks how he can know that his descendants will possess this land. God’s answer is, “Well, since you asked …” and what comes next sure isn’t pretty.

But it’s the truth.

Though the message to Abram wasn’t sugar-coated, it was still an immense blessing. The takeaway from all this is not that we should avoid tough questions; it’s that we should expect, even treasure, tough answers.

Serious Christians need to step up to serious communication with God. It’s wrong to pretend to understand everything or to act like nothing hurts. The book of Lamentations is inspired scripture. It’s perfectly normal to scream, “Why, Lord?”

Don’t suffer in silence while pretending you’re someone you aren’t.

The weekly study guides, which include discussion questions, are available for download here:

https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies