MPC, 29th September 2002.Genesis 12:1-7; Genesis 15 - "Trusting... While You Wait"
Cameron Wills MPC, 29th September 2002.
Have you seen those shampoo ads on TV? Where all the women have long, flowing, beautiful hair? Like the one on a few years ago, with Rachel Hunter. She waves her shiny, golden hair around and says 'It won't happen overnight, but it will happen'. Yeah, right. She says 'Trust me'… and keep buying the shampoo. Well, I wonder how long people trusted her promise… before they gave up on the shampoo? How long do you keep waiting for that sort of unlikely promise?
Three and a half thousand years ago a man called Abram faced his own challenge… of trusting in promises while he waited. God had made promises to Abram. Big promises. Now the clock's ticking. How long will Abram wait for God's promises?
In Genesis chapter 15 God tells Abram that He'll come through on His promises. But that Abram's going to have to wait for them. And keep believing in them while he waits. The Lord gives Abram an unbreakable guarantee for His promises. And so he's willing to let the clock tick. And trust in God's promises while he waits.
And that's your challenge too. And mine. While the clock's ticking. And the easy thing is to do life your own way. Instead of trusting God's promises as you wait.
In Genesis 15 Abram's already playing the waiting game. But to see that you've got to go back a bit further. To chapter 12. Which tells us Abram and his wife Sarai… are moving down from what's Syria today, into the land of Canaan… where Israel is today. And in verse 7, God tells Abram he's going to give the land of Canaan to his children.
But there are a couple of problems. Abram and Sarai don't have any children. Abram's 75 years old, and Sarai's only 10 years younger. The biological clock's ticking fast for these two. Executive women without kids say the biological clock's ticking when they hit 35. Well, Sarai's 65! And to make things even harder… verse 30 in chapter 11 tells you that Sarai can't have any children. Her clock never even started. What would you be doing in their situation? Infertile. And God says, I'll give this land to your children. Are you going to stock up on nappies? Or has God somehow got the wrong number? How long are you going to keep trusting in God's promise?
Five years go by. Still no baby. Still waiting for God's promise. Which brings us to chapter 15. Where God speaks to Abram… and reassures him. Reassures him that He still means what he said. And so Abram should keep trusting Him. Have a look at verse one of chapter 15,
"After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: Don't be afraid Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward."
But Abram's not thinking about God being his 'great reward'. Because all he wants is a child. Nothing else compares. The clock's ticking fast. And the one thing he wants is even one of the children God's promised him. An heir. Someone to hand his possessions on to when he dies.
But he can't see it happening. 'I've trusted in your promises for five long years. And no baby.' So Abram's going to plan B. He's going to make things happen his way. By making one of his servants his heir. Read verse two and three:
"But Abram says, "O Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless… and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir."
God's promises are on the line. Is Abram going to keep trusting? Or sort things out for himself? Which is so tempting, isn't it… when you can see a shortcut? You know what God says... but you see an easier way.
And God can hear Abram's frustration. So He reassures him. That he can keep trusting Him. The he can keep waiting for His promises. Even when the clock's ticking.
God says, No way your servant Eliezer is going to be your heir. Because you're going to have a son. A son who'll inherit everything. And carry on the family line.
In fact Abram's going to need to do more than just build an extra bedroom onto the house. He's going to have descendants beyond counting. A family tree that's going to go berserk. Verse 4:
Then the word of the Lord came to him: "This man Eliezer will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir." He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars - if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
Before I got married I drove up the coast with my mates to a little town called Miallo. Stunning scenery all around. But the thing I'll never forget is the night sky. Far North Queensland, it's pitch black; we're looking up at a sky packed full of stars. Thousands of them. And God says to Abram, "look up at that, and start counting."
Abram isn't sure he can keep trusting God's promises. When the clock's at five to midnight. But the Lord says it again. You might be eighty-years old, but you're going to have more descendants than there's stars in the sky. So keep waiting for the promise. And don't try your plan B.
And Abram's convinced. That he can keep trusting God's promise. Abram believes the Lord's going to give him descendants beyond counting. Responding to God's words with trust. And you'll see there, the Lord credits Abram believing His words as right standing with Him. That God treats Abram as being in the right with Him, because he believes what the He says. Verse six:
Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Which may be the most important verse in the Old Testament. A verse the New Testament picks up on. That having faith, is all about trusting God's promises. And that faith… is the way God reckon's righteousness. So Abram's the great model; the man of faith. Trusting in God's promises, even when there's patience involved. It's how you can get right standing with God. Which is what Paul says in Romans 4:
Abram was "fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why 'it was credited to him as righteousness.' The words 'it was credited to him' were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness – for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
Now back in Genesis 15, God's promise of descendants is restated. And on top of it, there's another promise to wait for. Verses 7 to 21, God promises Abram the land of Canaan. The land Abram's living in as a foreigner… and doesn't own a single centimetre of. God says, "Keep trusting Abram… there's more to come."
"I am the Lord," verse 7, "who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it."
But… how? How's it going to happen? Abram wants a sign to confirm the promise. Which is what he asks for in verse 8:
"O Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?"
Show me. So I'll know. God wants Abram to keep waiting for His promised land. So first of all He gives Abram a glimpse into the future. In verses 12 to 16, where He tells Abram what's going to happen to his descendants.
Who like Abram are also going to be foreigners living in a land they don't own. Who'll be slaves for four hundred years...before they leave that place with great wealth. Plundering their former masters. It's going to be a rough future for Abram's descendants… for a while, before things get a lot better. Just like Abram, his descendants will have to wait for God's promises. Follow from verse 13:
Then the Lord said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions."
Abram's descendants are heading for a great future. And so will Abram. Peace, in the land God's promised them. All they need is patience. And trust. God says, verse 15 "You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here."
And on this side of history we've seen the story unfolding. It's like a road map to the first half of the Old Testament. Because what God says… happens. Abram's great grand-children… the twelve sons… people like Judah and Benjamin and Simeon… live in Egypt with their families for 400 hundred years as Pharaoh's slaves. Waiting. Until God rescues His people in the Exodus. And the Israelites eventually make it to the Promised Land. As we've seen in Judges over the last three weeks. Just as the Lord said it will.
And how about the sign? God gives it. Just as Abram asks. How he can be sure about the Promised Land? And keep trusting the promise? It's in verses 9, 10 and 17. A strange little ritual. Which as it turns out, is exactly what you did in those days when you signed a contract. We just sign on the dotted line. Back then it was a bit more elaborate.
God says, kill some animals; you want a contract, you'll get a contract. Cut them in two and put the pieces of meat across from each other.
And verse 9 the Lord says to him,
Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon." Abram brings them; cuts them up and arranges the halves opposite each other.
And when night arrives God finishes His sign to Abram. In the form of little pottery stove and burning torch, going in-between the pieces of meat. God himself… passing through the dead animals... exactly as contracts were confirmed. Symbolically saying 'If I don't keep my promise, my covenant… then may I become like these animals.' A very graphic way of saying, "Abram, I stake my life on keeping my promise to you."
And on that day, says verse 18… the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates..."
And to Abram it's the most reassuring sign that God can give him… that he can count on God's promises. And he's satisfied with it. Because the chapter ends with God's word to Abram. There are no more questions from Abram… no more asking God 'what' or 'how' are you going to do this. Just deafening silence from Abram showing that he's happy to wait for the promise.
And in the end, his descendants do make it into the land. Exactly as God says. Abram does have a son. Who has children. Who have children. Who build cities and villages. Interesting, though, Abram himself lives out his life tramping around Canaan as a foreigner. Living in his tent. I hate getting dirt in my sleeping bag. Which always happens when you're living in a tent. But Abram's happy to keep waiting for God's promises. How long does he wait? Until he dies. It's not a life of maximum comfort. But a life of trusting in God's promises. For the long haul.
He's not living for now. For ease or pleasure. Because he knows it's better to be faithful. Than to sell out on God for ease.
Which is what the New Testament says about Abram. This is how the writer to the Hebrews puts it, in chapter 11:
"By faith Abram made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise… All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised, they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.
Abram was willing to give up 'the good life' to trust God's promises. So what about you? Easy to be impatient, isn't it? Wanting heaven now. Instead of waiting. Wanting all the blessings. So you'll ditch God's plan and go for plan B.
Go for the big house. And the big debt. That means you've got to have the high paying job. That takes all your energy and time. And you've got no time for the kingdom. And your ambitions are exactly the same as anyone else at work. And not distinctively God's ambitions at all. It's easy to fall into the trap. And not even know that you're doing it.
And then there's your close relationships. The people who either help us focus our lives on God's promises. Or take you away.
It's the sort of things that might make you feel great. Ease and pleasure. But in the long run… they ultimately take you away from following Jesus. And you're not prepared to keep trusting.
It can be tough to let the clock keep ticking, and not do your own plan B. But that's the challenge God gives you. Are you willing to keep trusting God promises? This week? This year? And let it affect the choices you make? Because that's what the Christian life's all about. Trusting the promises of God. While you wait.