Tag: trusting God

Look Up

~ Sowmya Gali

Genesis 15: 5-6

And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

When God called Abram out of the land of Chaldeans, He only promised that He will bless Abram and prosper him. The only condition was that he leave everything behind and follow God to the land the Lord God was going to show him. Abram obeyed the call, left behind everything. His father and nephew were the only ones who went along with him to the regions unknown. Soon after, Abram’s father died. But his nephew tagged along.

When strife arose between Lot’s herdsmen and Abram’s herdsmen, Lot and Abram decided to go separate ways. Lot chose the lush green valley of Jordan and settled near Sodom and Gomorrah, while Abram moved his tents to Hebron. It was in Hebron that God’s Word came to Abram in a vision. Abram was concerned that he still has no offspring. His nephew isn’t with him anymore. The only other male heir that Abram considered was his servant Eliezer.

That is when God took Abram outside and asked him to look up at the night sky. He asked him to count the stars if he was able to. And God promised that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the heavens. According to Lawrence O. Richards, today through the use of giant telescopes and radio telescopes that ‘see’ radio waves, we know that our Sun lies in a great cluster of stars, called a galaxy. Astronomers estimate that there are 100 billion stars in our galaxy and that there may be 100 billion galaxies in the universe (Richards, 1989). Astronomers have also suggested that our universe is expanding at a great rate.

God entered into a covenant relationship with Abram that night. Animals and birds were sacrificed. God and Abram entered into a blood covenant, first of its kind. Abram believed in the Lord. Isn’t it surprising that Abram trusted God more than anything or anyone at this point! He neither had a friend nor a relative to seek advice from, except for God Almighty. What God said, Abram had to take up at His Word. There was no turning back.

As we gaze at the night sky, we must realize that there is no East, West, North or South once we step outside of our planet. There is no up or down. The sense of direction is only relative to our planet. As numerous as the stars in the heavens, so many will Abram’s descendants be. Abram sure must’ve been overwhelmed by the prospect of having so many descendants. He just believed in the Lord and God reckoned it to him as righteousness. Abram recognized that what God was saying to him and showing him was absolute.

What are we believing today? Rather, who are we believing today? Is our worldview shaped by what we see around us? Or do we have a Biblical worldview? If we had the vision that Abram had about who God is, what His plans are for us, then we would be quick to believe in the Lord and take Him at His Word. Today God is asking us to ‘look up’ to the heavens. With God alone lies our redemption. With God alone lies our hope. With God alone lies our future.

Psalm 19: 1-2

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night the display knowledge.

Romans 1: 19-20

What may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Since there is so much of evidence all around us both visible and invisible, how can we not believe in God and in His Eternal Word. There is no other way around it. With man’s limited knowledge, there is only so little we could grasp the awesome power and divinity of God. Let us like Abram take God at His word.

Reference: Richards, O. Lawrence. “It couldn’t just happen – knowing the truth about God’s awesome creation” Harper Collins Christian Publishing, Nashville, TN 1989.

Look Around

~ Sowmya Gali

Genesis 13: 14, 15

The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.

When God called Abram from the land of Ur, he left everything and followed God into the unknown. However, he left the place with his father and nephew Lot. His father died shortly but Lot was still hanging around with Abram. The Lord blessed Lot as well because of Abram. Now the time has dawned for Abram to be separated from one last link to his past – Lot. When strife broke among the herdsmen of Lot and Abram, Abram, being a wise man requested that they shouldn’t fight as they are family. Abram besought his nephew to choose the land that he prefers so he could go the other way. Lot, drawn by the lush, fertile valley of Jordan, chose to settle near Sodom. And thus, uncle and nephew parted ways amicably.

As Abram’s eyes searched the fading caravan of his nephew Lot with a broken heart, the Lord nudged Abram to look north and south, east and west. As Abram scanned the landscape not knowing what the Lord was hinting at, Lord promised Abram that He will give all the land in all four directions to his offspring. Abram looked around and probably wondered if he would actually have an offspring who would inherit all this land that the Lord God was promising him.

God is asking us to do the same. God is nudging us to look around us. He is showing us opportunities where we could grow, be a blessing, and bring glory to His name. However, we seem to look at ourselves, our shortcomings and our infirmities. Unlike Abraham, we trust our weaknesses rather than trust in God’s strength. We are limiting ourselves. We are still clinging to our past. We believe in luck rather than God’s supernatural favor. When God is imploring us to look beyond ourselves and our circumstances, we are wallowing in our own pride and accomplishments. Thereby, we are missing out on God’s best for our lives. We fail to grasp that we have a God who is bigger than anything we can imagine. It is time, dear sojourners, to rise up and step out in faith. Not limiting ourselves but trusting Him to lead on, we are more than conquerors in Christ. May God lead you on to places beyond your reach where your tents are pitched in pleasant places.