Now the word of
the Lord came to him: “This one will not be your heir; instead one who comes
from your own body will be your heir.”
He took him outside and said, “Look at the sky and count the stars, if
you are able to count them.” Then He said to him, “Your offspring will be that
numerous.” Number 15:4&5
We
all know the story, but let’s pause and rethink Abram’s situation. Abram was in his early 80’s and Sarai was in
her 70’s. Abrahm’s response to this promise
of God was 2-fold;
Verse
6 Abram believed the Lord and he credited
to him as righteousness. This is the response we remember concerning having
children. This is not the first time
Abram had been given this promise (Gen 12:2-3) so perhaps he’s familiar with it,
expecting it, making it easier to believe God.
Yet when in verse 7 God promises Abram that his descendants will inherit
the vast lands around him, now Abrham responds with the infamous “but”.
Verse
8 But he said, “How can I know that I will possess it?”
Abram
readily believes God for a son, but questions God giving him the surrounding
lands. Why the difference? Could it be that Abram knew he had no power,
zero ability to produce a child. He’d
been married over 40 years, had sex thousands of times, and still had no child
with Sarai. Only God could provide a
child now. But taking the land, that’s
something completely different. That
would require Abram conquering the people, fighting battles – hard work! When we look at our own abilities and not
God’s, even Abram, the man of faith, is prone to doubt.
Oswald
Chambers writes, Seeing is never
believing: we interpret what we see in the light of what we believe. Faith is
confidence in God before you see God emerging; therefore the nature of faith is
that it must be tried.
And
consider what Abram did. Yes Abram
believed God BUT then a few months, later he listens to Sarai. Sarai has a better idea. Sarai gives Abram her slave as a wife. So
Abram and Sarai take it upon themselves to solve God’s problem of producing an
heir. How often are we just like
that? God shows us what He wants us to
do, but after doing it for a few years, we don’t see the results we want and so
we reach out for other ways of doing His work, ways which others tell us are
better. As with Abram and Sarai, God
does not interfere but allows us to go our own way, but in the end, there are
consequences.
Security
in life does not come from the world and its provisions, but security in life is
the result of a life that is hidden with Christ. We talk as if living a life dedicated to God were
the most uncertain and insecure thing we could do. Yet isn’t that really the
most secure thing possible, simply because it has Almighty God in the midst of
it? The most dangerous and unsure thing is to try to live our lives in our own
strength and wisdom without God.
There
are many strategies for reaching the lost.
All are good. All have merit. All
have been used in one place or another to win souls for Jesus. Learn these
strategies, even B4T, as tools to have able to use should God call upon you to
use one of them. But do not rely upon
any strategy to bring about your expected results. Seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness,
and allow Him to show you His intended strategy for your life and work. That strategy, the one He has given you and
not someone else, will bring about lasting results.
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