Good morning and happy Monday. What a weird weather weekend for June in Texas, right? Beautiful soft rain and lows in the high 60’s. Am I in the right place? Marge and I took advantage and got a little more done in the backyard. In the last few years God has placed us in different apartments in Maui and there’s nothing wrong in the world with rentals, but there’s just something really fun and special about your own place. Planting, painting, changing, upgrading and decorating a place that belongs to you. It especially feels good when you own it free and clear. God has blessed us in being able to handle money His way, not ours, and it makes a difference…a huge difference. If you’re struggling with your finances, check out what God has to say about money. Dave Ramsey writes a great book on Godly finance, “Financial Peace” and that book along with trusting God, changed our lives. Did you know that God has more to say about money than just about any other topic in His Word? Don’t think that He has forgotten about your money woes, God is the answer to every problem in your life and that includes your finances. Check it out, God wants to help you get debt free!
Well, speaking of practical application and practical approaches to God, this morning is a beautiful passage. I have a question for you. How do you talk to God? I guess maybe the question is really, “how do you view God? Because how you view Him will ultimately result in how you talk to Him. See if any of these scenarios of conversations with God sound familiar.
1) The “Foxhole Prayer” approach. Do you only talk to Him or cry out to Him when you’re in trouble? I think this is probably by far the most common conversation most people have with God. (It’s really not a conversation though.) People cruise along through the good parts of life on their own because when things are good there’s no need for God, right? But when things go bad? They’re on their knees in an instant crying out to God to help them. You see this is a foxhole prayer. When the battle gets bad and the shells start exploding around your head, you jump in the foxhole for protection and start throwing up prayers to God to save you. But as soon as the artillery stops, you hop out of the foxhole and start living just like you did before the shells started exploding. It’s a vicious cycle of insanity.
2) The “cosmic slot machine” approach. Do you only talk to God to ask Him for stuff? Is every single prayer to God a request? Do you see God as “the big guy upstairs” that somehow owes you every desire of your heart? Dear Lord, please repair my health, fix my kids, help my boss to stop hounding me, give me a new car, get me out of my loads of debt, oh, and I could also use a vacation. You may think this scenario sounds asinine but folks, you’d be surprised. This of course is not a true conversation either, it’s merely you making continued requests of God.
These are just a few different descriptions of many ways that people talk to God. But think about this. What if you really talked to someone in your life like this? What if the only times I ever talked to Margie I asked her for stuff? What if the only time you ever talked to your friend or neighbor was when you were in dire straits and needed them to save you? Sounds silly doesn’t it? So why do so many of us talk to God this way? Well, we see a truly ground-shaking example right before us in Genesis 15 today. We see Abraham and God talk. They have a conversation. There are multiple questions, multiple answers and promises are made as a result. What a good Father we have that will talk with us this way. That is if we will talk with Him this way.
Let’s explore God’s conversation with Abraham and the covenant that results.
“After 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.”2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” 5 And 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.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
7 And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” 8 But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” 9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. 11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. (Genesis 15:1-11)
So, the Lord comes to Abraham to talk. I think many times God wants to do just that. Talk to us. Now of course, your heart has to be right to talk to God, but if you’re listening, obedient and a faithful servant to your Heavenly Father then yes, He will want to talk to you. On the other hand, if you’re tied up in yourself, prideful and oblivious to His ways, then He might not be ready to talk to you. Here, He knows the heart of His servant Abraham and He wants to talk to Him.
The beauty of this conversation is how personal it is. God starts the conversation by telling Abraham not to fear, I am your shield and your reward for serving me shall be great. What a beautiful thing to hear from God...He offers abundant protection and provision. But notice that Abraham’s immediate response is a question. Do you have questions for God? I sure bet you do, I know I do! Well, do you ask them? Abraham says, “God you have already blessed me richly, what else can you possibly give me besides a child which I do not yet have?” Wow, what a great question. You see in all honesty, respect and love, Abraham is having a real conversation with God. God answers Him in a very specific way and how does Abraham respond to God’s answers? One of the single best lines in all of God’s Word…
“and he believed the Lord.” (Gen 15:6)
You see as you do have conversations with God, you can believe what He says. It might not make sense. It might not be what you want to hear. It might not be the way you would do it. It might not be the timing you would prefer. But folks, you can believe the Lord.
Now notice that even though Abraham believes in the Lord’s response with all of His heart, he still doesn’t understand and asks yet another question. What a great point here. If somebody tells me something and I don’t get it, I will keep asking questions. It’s not out of disobedience or rebellion, but out of the desire to understand. Abraham wants to be a good servant of the Lord, he wants to understand fully. There are times in our lives where it’s appropriate to ask God multiple questions. Just this morning in my prayer time I posed a few questions to God and I know that He will answer them perfectly in His ways and in His time. You see the genuineness of how we talk to God should be real and we see that perfectly pictured here. Questions, responses, clarifications and instructions. A real conversation with God.
As a result of Abraham’s questions, God makes a promise. Now folks when God makes a promise it’s done. Sign it, seal it up, take it to the bank, it’s done. But here, God goes a step further and will sign the deal that day and right in front of Abraham. Back in these days you didn’t run down to the courthouse and sign stuff in front of a notary. You didn’t go to the title office and sign all the papers in front of several people. It was much different. If you made a covenant with another man you would get a bull or a goat, split it in half and then as you joined hands, you would state your contract and then walk between the halves. That is exactly what we see God do here except for one BIG difference. God walked between them by Himself. Why? He made the promise and only He could deliver the promise. What did Abraham promise to do? Nothing, He had nothing to offer God. All he had to do was believe God. God seals the covenant with Abraham by making that walk. He made the promise, He guaranteed the promise, and He will deliver on the promise.
Folks, the same thing happened for every one of us 2000 years ago when God sent His son Jesus Christ here to die for the penalty of our sins. I have nothing to offer God and you don’t either. All we have to do is believe. God promised it all, He provided it all and He delivered it all. The covenant has been signed and sealed. As Jesus died, was buried and was raised to glorious life three days later, a contract was made to save our sinful lives through the single biggest show of mercy and grace the world will ever know. Have you called upon Jesus to save you? Have you made a mess of your life by following your own self-serving, sinful desires? Has sin wrecked your life? You see sin destroys. It robs. It steals. It will steal your joy, take your peace and rob the goodness from your life. It will destroy relationships, damage marriages and alienate family members. And most importantly, sin will rob you of Heaven. The wages of sin is death and without paying for your sins somehow, you will never be allowed into Heaven and into the presence of God. But Praise God, there is a way. Admit you’re a sinner and accept Jesus as your Lord. You see the prefect blood of Jesus will cover your sins. If you accept Jesus, God will not see your sin when you enter Heaven, he will only see the precious blood of His Son covering it. Jesus is the way...the only way.
God makes a covenant promise to Abraham in today’s lesson and God made a covenant promise to us when He sent Jesus to the Cross. Accept God’s promise today and accept Jesus. Your life will never be the same.
Be like Abraham….”and he believed the Lord.”
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