Genesis 15 :7-8 And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out 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?”
Perhaps the stories in the Bible are so meaningful because these were real people. They had great faith, but they also had doubts, fears and limited understanding of God and His power in their lives. Just like me at times. Perhaps just like you. God had just told Abram his descendants would out- number the stars in the night sky. It was God’s promise. He reminded him that He had brought him and his family and all of his possessions safely into this new land. That He, God, was the reason Abram left it all behind. And Abraham asks, “How am I to know?”
“How can he not know?”, we want to cry. Yet, God in his patience didn’t chastise Abram. No fire and brimstone hailed down. God instead gave him a task. He told him to prepare a sacrifice to Him. Is that an answer? Yes. It was I think the way to satisfy what two things were behind Abram’s question. First, “What can I do?” and second, “Can you?”
It is human nature to want to “do” something. It is hard for us to not be involved in helping God bring forth the blessings He wants us to receive. We don’t like to sit around and wait for God’s timing, even though deep down we know that is the best. So God says, “If you need to do something, then do something to honor me.”
The second question seems like one we should never, ever ask. You can almost hear the air sucking and the breath holding sounds of the angels when Abram questions God’s ability. But don’t we do that as well? The answer is in the question. “How am I to know?”, Abram asks. God’s response is simple. “Because – I Am.” Yah-weh. I Am – the Creator of the Universe, the past, the now and the future. I Am omnipotent, omni-present and almighty. I Am the Beginning and the End, and everything in the middle. I Am- the One who loves you more than anything else. I Am the one who can give you eternal life.
Enough said?
