Proof
Read Genesis 15:1-6.
What proof do you need? I mean, we all look for proof of what we believe. What proof do you need? When someone makes you a promise, what guarantee, what proof do you require that helps you believe the promise will be kept? A ring reminds us of promises made maybe years before, promises that hold onto us still today. A certificate hanging on the wall and a Bible laying on my desk remind me of the promises I made before God and to my Bishop and Conference to preach the word and uphold the Discipline of the United Methodist Church. What proof do you need that a promise will be kept?
For Abram, it was the stars. Some time has passed when we come to Genesis 15. He has moved to a new place, a new land, an unfamiliar place...and he has no children. When God promised him a land to his descendants back in Genesis 12, it apparently never occurred to him that he was 75 and childless. To take God at his word even when the odds are against it...that's faith! Now, however, some time later, it's dawned on Abram: he's not getting any younger and neither is Sarai. He's promised his estate to a servant. How in the world is God going to make him into a great nation when there's not even one legitimate heir at this point?
What proof do you need, Abram?
As he's complaining to God, he is taken by the hand and led outside. It's a clear night, and the stars are spread out all above him. (We who live in a city often forget what a beautiful expanse the stars are when there are no lights to impede their brilliance.) And God tells him to start counting. "Count the stars," God says, "if you can." Genesis doesn't say it this way, but I imagine God pausing here as Abram starts to count. One...two...three...billion... When Abram gets tired of counting (or loses track and has to start over), God says, "That's the way your family will be...as numberless as the stars."
What proof do you need?
Abram just needed a gentle reminder, found that night in the stars. It probably wasn't the first time he needed such a reminder, or the last. We forget easily. Our belief leaks. But that night, Abram took God once again at his word, and he believed.
What proof of the truth of God's promises do you need?
What proof do you need? I mean, we all look for proof of what we believe. What proof do you need? When someone makes you a promise, what guarantee, what proof do you require that helps you believe the promise will be kept? A ring reminds us of promises made maybe years before, promises that hold onto us still today. A certificate hanging on the wall and a Bible laying on my desk remind me of the promises I made before God and to my Bishop and Conference to preach the word and uphold the Discipline of the United Methodist Church. What proof do you need that a promise will be kept?
For Abram, it was the stars. Some time has passed when we come to Genesis 15. He has moved to a new place, a new land, an unfamiliar place...and he has no children. When God promised him a land to his descendants back in Genesis 12, it apparently never occurred to him that he was 75 and childless. To take God at his word even when the odds are against it...that's faith! Now, however, some time later, it's dawned on Abram: he's not getting any younger and neither is Sarai. He's promised his estate to a servant. How in the world is God going to make him into a great nation when there's not even one legitimate heir at this point?
What proof do you need, Abram?
As he's complaining to God, he is taken by the hand and led outside. It's a clear night, and the stars are spread out all above him. (We who live in a city often forget what a beautiful expanse the stars are when there are no lights to impede their brilliance.) And God tells him to start counting. "Count the stars," God says, "if you can." Genesis doesn't say it this way, but I imagine God pausing here as Abram starts to count. One...two...three...billion... When Abram gets tired of counting (or loses track and has to start over), God says, "That's the way your family will be...as numberless as the stars."
What proof do you need?
Abram just needed a gentle reminder, found that night in the stars. It probably wasn't the first time he needed such a reminder, or the last. We forget easily. Our belief leaks. But that night, Abram took God once again at his word, and he believed.
What proof of the truth of God's promises do you need?
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