“After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, 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, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”
(Genesis 15:1-6 ESV)
We live in a society rooted in logic. We want everything to make sense to us. And we struggle with things that don’t fit that mold.
This is true not only in matters of practical life. It’s true also when it comes to our faith. We want the things of God to make sense to us. We desire to understand them. And if they don’t make sense, if they don’t seem rational, our tendency is to dismiss them or to ignore them completely.
Really, this is nothing new. Abram struggled with this in the passage above. He struggled with it as God made him a wonderful promise.
God told Abram that he was his shield, that he was his protector and defender. He told Abram that his reward would be very great, or that he was his very great reward. And, on the surface, most of us would love to have God say the same to us. We would love to receive such a promise from God.
However, as he looked at his life, it didn’t make sense to Abram. He was lacking one of the greatest, and one of the most basic blessings desired by men. At his advanced age, he remained childless. He lacked an heir.
It didn’t make sense to him that he could lack this blessing and be blessed by God. It didn’t make sense to him that he could lack this blessing while God was his shield. If God’s Word was true, he reasoned, he would have a child. If it was true, he would have an heir.
God then reassured him that he would have an heir. He reassured Abram that his very own son would be his heir. And God promised him that his offspring would be as many as the stars of the sky.
Again, logically, this didn’t make a lot of sense. But Abram believed God. And God credited that faith to him as righteousness.
We know how the story played out. God miraculously provided a son to Abram and Sarai in their old age. Even though they were past the age of childbearing, together they bore Isaac. And their family grew into the nation of Israel.
When things don’t make sense to us, when the things of God don’t make sense to us, it need not destroy us. Even then, we can trust God. Even then, we can believe his promise. And we can do so because God is God.
He is not limited as we are. He isn’t bound by the laws of nature. He isn’t in bondage to sin and its consequences. He doesn’t lie. He doesn’t change his mind. What he says, he can do. And what he says, he will do.
We, therefore, can believe him. Regardless of what our mind tells us, we can believe him. And we can have the assurance that, like Abram, God will credit this to us as righteousness.
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