ABRAHAM
Genesis 15:1-6 ( ESV )
1After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your
shield; your reward shall be very great.”
2But Abram said, “O Lord God,
what will you give me, for I continue£ childless, and the heir of
my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
3And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a
member of my household will be my heir.”
4And behold, the word of the Lord
came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son£ shall be your heir.”
5And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and
number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So
shall your offspring be.”
6And he believed the Lord,
and he counted it to him as righteousness.
Observations:
1-The Lord knows the heart of Abraham and He knows his
fears. You and I must understand this fact about ourselves when we come into
His presence. Even before we speak our Father knows
our needs, desires and fears. He is not displeased with us but wants us
to share these things with Him. This was an intimate relationship that Abraham
had with God. We know this to be true as we read in
James 2:23 and Is. 41:8 that Abraham is called a friend of God. One of
the reasons why we struggle with prayer is that we forget that we are simply
building a relationship with our creator. He wants to hear our voice. He wants
us to draw close to Him.
Note how the
Father talks to Abraham, He wants to remind
him how He is his shield. The one who will
guard him. So when we walk through the shadow of death we to can come to him
with our fears and He tells us how that He will watch over us and that our
reward will be great.
2-3Abraham like us forgets that He has promised to take
care of us. He can only see that he is still childless. What reward? My
greatest desire has still not come true. If you will notice he even goes as far as
blaming God for not giving him an heir.
When we come to the Lord we need to be
honest with Him about how we feel. We must come to Him with
the burdens of our hearts and even our disbelief. Often we forget the cry of
the father who said, “I believe, help my
unbelief.” It is during these
times that we can draw closer to Him. When we forget His promises towards us
that is when it is time to pray. Why? Because often just like Abraham we are
reminded by God how He will keep them.
4-5-I believe that God
delights in building up our heart when we pray. Abraham was reminded
that he has a prayer keeping God. A God that will keep every one of His
promises. The end result of this conversation and prayer with God is that in
verse 6 We are told that Abraham believed in God and He counted it to him as
righteousness.
Next we will see the heart of Abraham as he intercedes for
the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18:22-33.
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