God's Covenant with Abram

Story: God's Covenant with Abram

Passage: Genesis 15

Characters: The Lord, Abram

Summary: The Lord came to Abram in a vision and promised that He would reward Abram. This was right after his rescue of Lot. Abram got frustrated with God that he still didn't have a son. God promised to make Abram's offspring as numerous as the stars. Abram believed and it was credited to him as righteousness, but he still wanted proof. God had Abram give Him an offering. God told Abram that his descendants would be oppressed for 400 years but then they would be rescued. Abram saw a fire pot and a torch pass between the meat on the altar. God reaffirmed his covenant with Abram.

Notes: Abram was upset with God. He told God he would die childless, and then he used the word behold to emphasize his claim that God had not given him children. God began His conversation with Abram by calling himself Abram's shield. Abram could trust God to protect him and keep his promise. Abram then blamed God for his lack of offspring. God assured him that his heir would indeed be his own son. Abram believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Abram still wanted proof though. I find it interesting that Abram could ask for proof even after he believed. I wonder if he believed God's intentions but wanted God to guarantee His results. Whatever the case, God had Abram make a sacrifice. When evening came, God made a great and dreadful darkness cover Abram. God then appeared to Abram and told him about his descendants future hardships in Egypt. God promised that they would one day return and take the land! His reason was that the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet complete. It is interesting that God was going to keep the Israelites suffering because a people group had not finished their sin yet. The fire pot Abram saw represented the fate of the Israelites in Egypt. The torch represented God's light and guidance. As we have seen, Abram seems to have had trouble remembering God's promise to him. God has confirmed his promise 4 or 5 times at this point! But God never seems to tire of making the promise to Abram. His promise never changes, it only gets more detailed.

Questions: Why was Abram's belief credited as righteousness? What made his belief special? Did the Israelites remember the prophecy about their deliverance when they were in Egypt? Was Abram angry? Or was he just confused at the way God was going about keeping his promise?

Lessons: God does not act instantly. He acts in His own time. When He promises something, it will happen, it just might not happen as soon as we expect. Often times there is a big picture we don't see! For example, God was going to let the Israelites suffer so that they could serve as his intruments of justice on the Amorites. If they didn't suffer, the Amorites sin would not escalate to the point where God was going to punish them. It took 400 years of Amorite sin to get Israel out of Egypt.