“I promise.”
These two words are spoken in various settings with varying degrees of sincerity.
Perhaps a child promises not to disobey again. They will break that promise.
Perhaps at a wedding, we promise to love our spouses. I hope they keep that promise.
We promise things on a fairly regular basis. Do we keep these promises? Do we believe others will keep theirs?
It can be challenging to trust the Lord’s promise because our experiences with promises are dubious. It’s not that we distrust the Lord; we distrust the people who’ve made all those broken promises. Thus, believing the Lord never breaks His promise is sometimes challenging. That’s just not how a lot of promises work in our lives.
Abram was finally on the other side of a liberation campaign for his nephew, Lot. The Lord gave Abram victory, and Lot was safe. Yet, Abram was still without a child. The Lord’s promise had not yet been fulfilled.
Last week (in Genesis 15:1-6), we saw that Abram assumed his servant would be the means. He thought this was how the Lord fulfilled His promise to Abram. The Lord corrected this and told Abram that the inheritor of his estate would indeed be his flesh and blood.
As we continue that conversation with the Lord, we read in Genesis 15:7-21:
7 He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”
Genesis 15:7-21, New International Version
8 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”
9 So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
So here stands Abram before the Lord. He has the promise from the Lord and a very specific piece of information from the Lord. He believed that one of his flesh and blood descendants would bring salvation to the race. Ultimately, this salvation would extend to the world through Jesus.
The Lord confirmed that Abram’s succeeding family would possess the land of Canaan.
Then he asks, “How can I know that I will gain possession of it?” Although this sounds like disbelief, the Lord doesn’t seem to act this way. If it is disbelief, the Lord excuses it without comment.
In response to Abram’s questions, the Lord makes a covenant with him. This is not the first time we have encountered the idea of a covenant in Genesis. However, it is the first occurrence in the narrative of Abram’s life.
The Lord details the slavery in Egypt. Then, He foretells Egypt’s eventual punishment. Following this, the Lord’s deliverance is revealed. This includes the prophecy that the nation would emerge with great wealth.
But Abram would be spared this suffering. He would die in peace and be buried as an old man.
In verses 18-21, the Lord reminded Abram that He would fulfill every promise made to Abram.
Abram wondered if the Lord was still going to fulfill His promise. The Lord profoundly answers. We, too, can take great comfort because this is the same God we serve.
This is the same covenant-keeping God Who sent His unique-and-one-of-a-kind Son to redeem us from the penalty of sin. It was the Lord that reached out to us.
He created the covenant of salvation that we enjoy. He promised. He delivers. This is the confirmation of the covenant He has made to us. He loves us; He hears us; He longs for us to love Him back.
Do you?
Life Meets Theology 