Sometimes following God’s plan is filled with uncertainty, suffering, and pain but He remains faithful. God sees more than we can see. He knows more than we know. He works in ways beyond our comprehension. And if we agree to follow Him only when we understand what He’s doing, we’ll always stop short of experiencing His inexplicable wonders.
12 Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 4 So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
Genesis 12:1–4 NKJV
Here we see the first mention of the covenant God makes with Abram. Terah means delay and Haran means delay. When we knowingly disobey God, we often delay the outworking of His plan in our lives and we also experience barrenness.
7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.
Genesis 12:7–8 NKJV
We build our own alters where:
-We remember the sacrifice Jesus made for sin
-We submit to God as living sacrifices
-We offer the sacrifice of praise
Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land.
Genesis 12:10 NKJV
God called Abram to Canaan not Egypt.
Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the [a]South. 2 Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 3 And he went on his journey from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, 4 to the place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of the Lord.
Genesis 13:1–4 NKJV
And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; 15 for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.
Genesis 13:14–15 NKJV
“Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.”
Genesis 13:17 NKJV
In the same way, God wants us to explore a land of promise, for us – His Word – where God has given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, where He has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. He wants us to walk through this land, possessing it by faith.
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” 2 But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!” 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” 5 Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
Genesis 15:1–6 NKJV
And he said, “Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?”
Genesis 15:8 NKJV
Abram asked God fro proof of the promise. Abram had no title deed to the land, no certificate of ownership that another person would recognize. Abram had nothing to make anyone else believe he actually owned the land. All he had was the promise of God.
9 So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two.
Genesis 15:9–10 NKJV
And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces.
Genesis 15:17 NKJV
Therefore, the certainty of the covenant God made with Abram is based on who God is, not on who Abram is or what Abram would do. This covenant could not fail because God could not fail. In a sense, the Father walked through the broken and bloody body of Jesus to establish His covenant with us, and God signed it for both of us. We merely enter into the covenant by faith; we don’t make the covenant with God.
3 Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: 4 “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. 5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.
Genesis 17:3–5 NKJV
