Friday,
February 26, 2021
Some time later, the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.” But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son? Since you’ve given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth. You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.” Then the Lord said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.” Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!” And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith. Genesis 15:1-6
There
is so much more to this story than whether a good man like Abram gets a
blessing from God. In fact, Abram said
it plainly, that all the wealth, position, and power that was lavished on him
was useless without fulfillment of God’s plans.
The unspoken
part of that is whether Abram was going to be patient enough
to see God’s plan through. At this point
in the conversation what was unmentioned was faith, the evidence of things NOT (as
yet) seen. Of course, Abram had no
choice but to wait; neither do we. None
of us can push time ahead; we only think we do so when we rush
around like chickens who’ve lost their heads, assuming our hyperactivity will somehow
pay off in the end with a better life. And
such activity only proves the opposite of faith – it shows our nervousness
about what will happen.
Abram
had some of that nervous angst about the future. He looked around at the sea of God’s blessing
on his life, but, as most lonely people do eventually recognize, all the stuff and
perks in the world is meaningless. One
of Abram’s descendants, King Solomon, found that out. From his diary (Ecclesiastes), we find out
that the King tried it all, had it all, and all of it was empty as a puff of
smoke:
God gives some people great wealth and honor and everything they could ever want, but then he doesn’t give them the chance to enjoy these things. They die, and someone else, even a stranger, ends up enjoying their wealth! This is meaningless—a sickening tragedy. Ecclesiastes 6:2
So,
what sense are we to make of such a truth?
Is life meaningless? Not
according to God’s “end” of that story in the last verse of today’s Scripture:
And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith. Genesis 15:6
Reading
all of Abram’s story we find that Abram’s belief was
faith, that substance of things hoped-for, the evidence of things not seen.[1] God promised Abram a heritage of so many descendants
he could never remember all the names; he might as well have tried to count and
name the stars. And Abram, possessor of
so much stuff people chase after on this planet, decided trusting the God with
no face to see, and no name other than I AM, made more sense than
trusting his portfolio. This is what
caused God to count on Abram as one who was righteous, a
person in right-standing with his Creator, a person of true faith.
For You Today
If you’re looking for meaning in this life, skip the
lifetime experimentation with all the glitter, gold, and getting; that will be
wiser than Solomon’s approach. Instead,
start with the evidence of the unseen; start with God’s love for you. That’s where you’ll find the greatest
response of your heart, because that’s how He designed and created you.
[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
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