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Writer's pictureEast Martin CRC

Self-Promise

Genesis 15:7-12

Verse 9  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.”

 

    We talked yesterday about how Abram questioned God about what He had said about making him a great nation.  God had told him they would have a son of their own.  Abram believed God and God continued to remind him the promise wasn’t simply about the heir.  Abram wanted assurance.

 

    When God called Abram out of his homeland, He didn’t do it with an open agenda.  There were specifics He had in mind and though He hadn’t given them all to Abram at the time of the call, He was giving a little bit more of the plans here and there in His discussions with His friend but knew that if He gave all the details at one time, the man wouldn’t be able to accept and process the magnitude of the promise, but there was also the issue that if Abram knew all the details he may try to make things happen on his own.

 

    God had Abram cut the animals for the covenant making ceremony.  This was a custom where the halves of the animals would be set apart and the members making the covenant would walk between the two halves to make the statement that if either of them broke the covenant, the fate of these animals would be their own.  People didn’t make promises so flippantly in those days.  No one wanted to die for not keeping their part of the covenant.

 

    Abram took great care in preparing the animals, cutting them and then laying them out just right.  Notice the fact that Abram is proving his belief in God by setting it all up as if he is expecting God to come and walk through it with him.  Abram could easily have expected God to do so because God had appeared to him when He had called him out of his homeland.  But this time God seemed to be taking His time coming.

 

    The birds of prey were thinking it was their lucky day and started circling and trying to land on the feast they saw before them and Abram stood watch over the covenantal carcasses, shooing away anything that tried to make a meal out of the slaughtered animals.  By sunset God still had not shown up but Abram had not given up on Him.  In something like a test of how true his belief was, God waited until Abram went to sleep to show up.  The truth was, God was making this covenant with Himself.  Abram wasn’t to be making a promise with God, God was going to make the promise with Himself so He knew it would be kept and it would in no way rely on man.

 

Making It Personal

    Have you ever felt like God was taking too long to make a move?  Did you try to hurry things along on your own?  What could God be trying to teach you in the waiting?

 

Making It Personal Kids

    Do you like having to wait for something?  What are some reasons God could have you wait?  What can you learn while you wait?

 

Closing Prayer

    Father, thank You for waiting for the time to be right to work out Your plans for our lives.  Help us patiently wait for You while we do what You have called us to do in the meantime.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

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