I don’t know about you, but I’ve been through a variety of seasons in my faith journey. I’ve lived through fruitful seasons, and I’ve also experienced seasons of suffering where I didn’t see how God could redeem it. And yet He did. I’ve sat alone in my bedroom at night, with my knees to the floor, begging God to make a way. And although God doesn’t always answer our prayers exactly the way we want Him to, His very nature is to redeem.
And that is what we see in this passage today.
Here in Genesis, Abraham is at a pivotal moment. His life isn’t what he expected it to be. At this point in his life, he thought he’d have children, and more specifically, he thought he’d have an heir. Can you imagine wrestling with the grief of infertility, but also the reality that you don’t have an heir to carry on your life’s work, your legacy? This is where Abraham is in chapter 15.
But God.
God, being rich in mercy and steadfast love, had a redemptive plan for Abraham’s life. And that plan wouldn’t only impact Abraham’s family, but it was a redemptive plan for us all.
God made a covenant with Abraham that his descendants would be as many as the stars in the sky, and not only that, he had a redemptive plan for them. Today, my children still sing the popular song “Father Abraham” while walking through the house. If you don’t know the song, part of it goes like this:
“Father Abraham had many sons
Many sons had Father Abraham
I am one of them and so are you
So let’s just praise the Lord!
Right arm…”
And then if you’re one of my children, you’re now running around the kitchen waving your right arm – and maybe accidentally smacking a sibling while doing so.
The point is, from the line of Abraham we get the line of David. And from the line of David, we get Jesus, our promised Messiah. And in Christ, we are all made children of God. Because Abraham believed God, and his faith was counted as righteousness to him and to us.
Romans 4 says it this way, “He [Abraham] did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. He was fully convinced that what God promised he was also able to do. So indeed it was credited to Abraham as righteousness. But the statement it was credited to him was not written only for Abraham’s sake, but also for our sake, to whom it will be credited, those who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was given over because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of our justification” (emphasis mine).
You see, Abraham believed God. He trusted that whatever God said would happen would come to fruition. And because of his faithfulness, those who believe in Christ are justified and redeemed. And today, during our lifetime, we are also given a choice. Will we believe God is who He says He is? Do we hold fast to the new covenant that He has given us through Jesus Christ? Or will we be like the little children in Ephesians 4:14 who are “tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes?”
We each have our choice, but as for me and my house, we’re going to keep on clinging to the promises of God and believing that one day, He will come again. And when He does, He will wipe away every tear from our eyes, because He is who He says He is: A God who Redeems.
