Sunday, July 11, 2021

Genesis 15 Devotional Bible Study by Steve Wilson

Genesis 15

After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:

 

“Do not be afraid, Abram.
    I am your shield,[a]
    your very great reward.[b]

 

But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit[c] my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

 

Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring[d] be.”

 

Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

 

He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”

 

But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”

 

So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”

 

10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

 

12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”

 

17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi[e] of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”

 

Footnotes

  1. Genesis 15:1 Or sovereign
  2. Genesis 15:1 Or shield; / your reward will be very great
  3. Genesis 15:2 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.
  4. Genesis 15:5 Or seed
  5. Genesis 15:18 Or river

 

 

Do Not Be Afraid

Genesis 15:1

“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”

 

What causes us fear? The threat of danger, certainly. And failure. We fear for our safety, and we fear that our efforts, what we've been working toward, will ultimately end up being wasted.

 

God tells Abram not to be afraid. Why should Abram not to be afraid? Because God is his "shield" and his "very great reward." God is his protection and all he needs for his effort.

 

In the same way, God is our shield, protecting us in every way He sees fit, and He is all we ever need. With God protecting us and blessing us with the reward of Himself both now and forever, what danger can threaten us? What failure will mean anything in the light of our spending eternity with God?

 

Do not be afraid, for God is your shield and your very great reward.

 



 

 

“What Can You Give Me?”

Genesis 15:2-4

But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

 

Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.”

 

Poor Eliezer. He missed out on a great inheritance opportunity. But notice how Abram questions God. He’s laying out a logical argument, saying in effect:

 

1. “God, You said you were going to give this to land my descendants.”

2. “I don’t have any descendants.”

3. “What are You going to do about it?”

 


We might think at first that Abram is being impertinent or disrespectful to speak to God to this way, but God doesn’t seem to mind. He simply reassures Abram that he will have a son.

 

Have you ever found yourself questioning whether God is going to fulfill His promises to you? Don’t hesitate to remind Him of what He said He would do. Speaking to God in this way isn’t doubt but faith. You’re falling back on His promises, asking Him to act on your behalf.

 

We’re allowed to remind God of who He is and what He’s said He would do. It’s a declaration of how much we’re depending on Him.

 

 

Belief as Righteousness

Genesis 15:6

Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

 

How do you know if you believe something or not? If you believe something, you act on it. It shapes how you live. If I believe that 3 + 2 = 5, when I add those numbers together, I'm going to give the same answer every time. It's been ingrained in me, and it shapes how I live.

 

If I say I believe 3 + 2 = 5 but then sometimes give the answer as 4 or 6, I don't believe it to the point of it shaping my life.

 

3 + 2 = ?

 

In Abram's case, he believed God, and God credited Abram's belief as righteousness. What does this mean? How did Abram's belief translate to righteousness?

 

Abram believed God to the point that he acted on what God said. It affected his life. He didn't name his servant as his heir but trusted that God would give him a son.

 

If we believe God, if we take what He said and apply it to our lives in such a way that what we say we believe affects the way we live, then God will credit our belief as righteousness as well, because we will be living righteously based on our beliefs.

 

 

The Smoking Pot and the Carcasses

Genesis 15:17

a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.

 


How do you know you can believe God when He says something? Isn't it possible for God to go back on His word just like people do?

 

In this story, God has Abram lay out animal carcasses on either side of a pathway, and then, God passes through the middle of those carcasses. In ancient times, this would have been a way of sealing a very solemn contract. The one who passed through the carcasses would have been saying, "If I fail to hold up my end of the bargain, may I become like these carcasses, mutilated and torn in two."

 

But what do we know about God? Can God die? Can God become like those carcasses? No. Even when God the Son died on the cross, death couldn't hold Him. God is Life.

 

So, God is giving Abram a double assurance. "If I fail to keep My word, I'll die. But since I can't die, I can't fail to keep My word."

 

In the same way, we can trust that God will keep His word to us because God can't deny who He is. He can't break His own character. If God is Truth, God must be true. If God is Love, God must act out of love. If God is righteous, He must act righteously.

 

We can trust God because we know who He is and what His character is like.

 

 

 

No comments:

Post a Comment