Questions And God
Opening Prayer
Holy God, overcome my fears with Your transforming Word. May Your Spirit break through any barriers within me.
Read Genesis 15
[1]
Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God” (2 Cor. 1:20)
Think Further
What God counts as righteousness is to trust his promises (6; see Rom. 4:3 and James 2:23)—but trust has its questions! Melchizedek praised God “who delivered your enemies into your hand” (14:20) and now God himself says, “I am your shield” (1)—but what is Abraham’s tone of voice as he questions and states present facts (2,3)? We see the wonder of how God relates with people: we can honestly tell God what we think (most evident in the book of Job and many psalms) and he responds! The primary biblical portrayal of God is not a ruler whose laws are to be obeyed but one who in love desires relationship. Some questions may arise from disbelief but others are because of faith, when we can’t understand what God is doing. Here God responds and Abraham accepts God’s reaffirmation of promise—with another question! Trusting God does not disallow, “How can I know?” (8). God in response provides a covenant ceremony. Treaty ceremonies with slaughtered animals are known in the ancient Near East whereby the parties solemnly commit themselves to a relationship (“May I be like these animals if I prove disloyal”). Here only God binds himself with an unconditional pledge. Many years will pass before the promised son, but Abraham has the ongoing memory of the ceremony. Our own journey of faith is sustained by God’s covenant ceremonies that he has established as visible participatory signs of his promise, the initiating ceremony of baptism and ongoing participation in the Lord’s Supper. As well, there are those personal experiences where in some special way we have known God’s provision. One person preparing for cross-cultural ministry blogs, “I write them here so that in the cold, dark nights of winter we can look back at them and remember that God has called us.”
Apply
Have you ever had to ask for reassurance (2–8)? Where in your life do you need God’s reassurance?
Closing prayer
Father God, I thank You for the times in my life when You have strengthened my faith and spoken clearly to me.
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