10 January | EVERYONE
"Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness." Genesis 15: 5,6
Abraham, after so many years, needed to see beyond his eyes. His soul was still short-sighted. Every time he remembered his story, he saw himself crossing it under the endless shadow of uncertainty; but then, says Genesis, "the word of the Lord came" (15:1). This expression appears more than a hundred times in the Old Testament. Thanks be to God; His word always comes to us. It is the light that illuminates our night plagued by doubts.
On the night God spoke to him, the blue velvet skies were covered with stars, but Abraham's heart was wrapped in a black cloth of sadness and anxiety. God had promised him a son, but he and Sarah were already old, and the promise was not coming true. Humanly speaking, it seemed that it would not be fulfilled. The patriarch felt heavy-hearted.
There are times when you look around and cannot seem to find your way out. All of us, sooner or later, go through dark nights in our experience, even the most incredible men and women of faith. In a moment of sorrow and difficulty, the missionary who sowed the seed of the gospel in China said, "I cannot read, I cannot think, I cannot even pray, but I can trust."
That night, the Lord brought Abraham out of the darkness of his hardships and showed him the beauty of the starry sky. "So shall your descendants be," he said. No evidence. Just His word. The word that comes from God is a signed promise. And the patriarch believed, says the Bible, and that attitude was accounted to him as righteousness. If he were to have a vast offspring, it would not be by his works, nor his effort, nor his methods. It would be by God’s grace alone. That is righteousness by faith. You do not do anything! God does it all for you!
Take Action
Bring to God today your uncertainties and that problem that seems to have no solution. Give your future to Him. God invites you to "count the stars" with that attitude of faith that was accounted as righteousness to Abraham. Sing "Abram Believed in the Lord" (if possible, with your family).