God guarantees it
Then he heard the LORD speaking to him again: ‘This slave Eliezer will not inherit your property; your own son will be your heir’. The LORD took him outside and said, ‘Look at the sky and try to count the stars; you will have as many descendants as that’.
Abram put his trust in the LORD, and because of this the LORD was pleased with him and accepted him. (verses 4-6)
Human beings can, and should, be very grateful that Abram trusted God as he did, especially when, humanly speaking, there seemed to be little evidence on which to base this trust. The promise of a ‘great nation’ still must have seemed a long way off to this childless couple.
But, because he did trust God, God made a covenant with him, an unconditional covenant in which God promised to give Abram and his descendants land. Even this was not plain sailing, for God revealed to Abram in a dream that all would not be easy for those descendants. They would go to Egypt, where they would be treated badly. But they would, in the end, receive what God had promised. God guaranteed it.
We too can trust God’s promises. We, like Abram’s descendants, live in a world where life is often tough. Christians are certainly not exempt from this. But we too have God’s covenant of grace, the certainty of eternal life. Ours now, ours to cling to, as we walk through a time when many people are less than pleased with Christians. We can be totally sure because God keeps his promises.
Father, I thank you that I can be sure I am saved, because you have promised it. Amen.
by Bob Turnbull, in ‘God’s Promises for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 1999)
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