Genesis

God makes a general statement to Abraham as the narrative begins. The general statement is a reminder of God's promise from Genesis 12:1-2. Abraham has returned from his rescue of Lot where he won a decisive victory over a much larger and trained force. It is natural that Abraham would be concerned that he has no heirs and that he and Sarah (Sarai) are getting older. God takes Abram outside where He shows him that his descendants will be more numerous than the stars. These descendants would come from Abraham directly and not from his distant relatives or servants.

What can we learn from Abraham based on this event?

There are times when our faith is weak; times when we don't understand or see God working in our lives. We must remember that God made a promise to us as His people, and He will keep that promise.

How does the promise regarding Abram's descendants numbering more than the stars directly apply to us?

We look at this as Abraham's direct descendants in a physical way. Don't discount the indirect descendants from a spiritual way. We are descendants of the promise as we are now part of God's spiritual Kingdom (Galatians 3:7-9).

Why would God delay giving children to Abraham and Sarah and how does that apply to us?

There are multiple reasons. (1) By waiting until they were well beyond the normal age for childbearing, even in that time, it shows that God brought it about. (2) Abraham had to go through a period of trial and testing to develop his faith.

In our faith journey we understand the power of God, our reliance on Him, and our need for prayer. All too often we ask for things as children desiring our will be done rather than God's. We look at our lives only with our existence or relief from issues in view. Sometimes the delay in answered prayer is for similar reasons as with Abraham. We too need to see that it is God working in our lives. We need to develop a stronger faith. We need to pray for God's will, even if the answer is not a relief of our current situation. We sometimes pray for the wrong things or in the wrong way (James 4:1-10). God will answer and provide but it is by His time and His will. Always remember that we are the servant and He is the Master. Our desire is to hear, "Well done good and faithful servant." (Matthew 25).

Abraham wants a sign from God. He hears God's promise and intellectually understands it. But he still wants tangible proof. Perhaps this is due to his continued weak condition of faith. God gives him a more direct object lesson of His covenant by telling Abraham to make a sacrifice with specific instructions. These illustrate the great cost (5 animals), the seriousness of breaking a promise, the delay Abraham must accept and continue to be faithful through, the associated suffering God's people would endure (a cleansing and testing), God's unilateral commitment to His promise (He passed through the animals, not Abraham), and that the scope of the promise would be universal.

The promise of God has immediate and future implications. God caused Abraham to prosper, even when Abraham was weak. This shows God's protection as well as faithfulness to Abraham and the promise. All too often we equate blessings with temporal (earthly) manifestations. We may feel that if we are not prosperous in some way then we are not as blessed as others. These are faulty comparisons. God's blessings, as is His promise, are spiritual and therefore eternal. We are sometimes granted physical blessings but are always granted spiritual blessings. Regardless of the nature of the blessings, we must remember the reason God blessed Abraham (Genesis 12:1-2) and apply that standard to our blessings. We are blessed so that we can bless others. Whether physical and/or spiritual we give God the glory and use those blessings to help others come to know and glorify God.

Answers will vary. Certainly, we generally quote Hebrews 11:1. When we look at the list of those within that chapter, we see a pattern emerge which Abraham especially practiced. First, we must come to know God. Knowledge of God goes beyond simple mental acceptance. It includes a higher level of awareness born out through our growing relationship with Him. Secondly, as Abraham and the others listed in Hebrews 11, and the faithful of today, we must learn to grow in our trust of God. Trust is borne out through seeing God fulfilling His promises and knowing He will continue to do so. Third, we must obey God. It does no good to know and trust God if we are not willing to obey Him. Obedience is sometimes difficult, and we are at times deliberately and unknowingly disobedient. God expects faithfulness in our effort to obey, we demonstrate this.

Abraham found physical and spiritual salvation because of his faith. This serves as a model for us. We must develop faith and grow in this grace. We will be successful in serving God through our faith. As Hebrews 11:6 states, it is impossible to please God without faith. Therefore, just as we have seen through Abraham and others, God will reward our faithfulness.