The Faith of Abram

You shall have an heir of your own seed. Gen. 15:4

You will have descendents that number the stars. v.5

Abraham believed. v.6

This is your land as inheritance. v.7

Oh, and ah, your descendents…

-will be strangers in a foreign land,

-will serve (work; causing enslavement, bondage of) them,

-and will afflicted by them 400 years. v.13

       Gotta wonder just what Abram thought at that point.  Certainly the first three promises are woohoo moments, but that last one, not so much.  Sure, his descendents would come out wealthy v.14, and Abram would die in peace v.15 so he would never live through the oppression, but the thought of slavery for his progeny must have been disturbing.  What do you do with that information?  Do you pass it on which will affect the choices your descendents make, or do you keep it confidential?  Did Jacob know and would he have moved his family to Egypt if he had known, or not?  There’s no indication that this information was passed along, and Moses didn’t write about it until after it happened, so who knows what Abraham’s descendents knew.

       Seventy Hebrews did go into Egypt, and possibly 2 million came out (Ex. 12:37- 600,000 men only and so must add women, children, foreigners etc).  They became a nation in Egypt while under oppression.  They left with much wealth from Egypt (Ex. 12:36) and 40ish years later took over the land God gave them.  So, God’s promises came true in all aspects.

       Most of us never know what God intends for our future.  We want peaceful, easy lives for us and our children, but that does not build character and strength.  I don’t think we are able to handle knowing the difficult things that lie ahead, and that’s why God normally doesn’t tell us.  Still, what it all boils down to is faith.  Like Abram, we either have faith in God to set the path before us and know He knows best or we set out on our own path and direction which indicates we think we know better than the Almighty God and Creator of the universe- you know, the one who was here in the beginning?

       We need to surrender our lives into His hands and trust that He will get us through all the difficult times.  Abram trusted- had faith and his future became that of a nation which will one day lead the world (Rev.).  Just imagine what could happen in our lives if we trust God the same way.  Who knows what He will do in, and with our lives?