"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" Genesis 15:5-6.
We must never underestimate the power of simple faith. Few things are as audacious as asking a childless old man to believe he will have descendants too numerous to count. Outrageous as the promises seemed, elderly Abram dared to believe what Yahweh said.
In a way that only God could, He took Abram outside at night and used the limitless night sky to emphasis His point and promise. A literally starry-eyed Abram simply believed, and his simple faith was credited to him as pleasing to the LORD. Simple, child-like faith was the prized quality that appropriated the promise.
Innocent, child-like faith is more difficult the older we get. The experiences of life can easily fill us with skepticism and pessimism. Age and experience have a way of diminishing child-like innocence and simplicity. For that reason, perhaps Abram's faith was so highly prized because it is so rare in adults.
We must do more than admire Abram’s simple faith; we must emulate it: "whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all" Luke 18:17. Simple faith is not optional; it is imperative.
We who have the faith of Abraham are the literal fulfillment of the promise: “And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise” Galatians 3:29. We dare to believe that we related to Abraham through Jesus the Christ, the descendant of Abraham, and that we anticipate the land promise of the earth, along with Abraham, at the return of Christ. Such a promise seems almost too great to comprehend, but we are asked, as was Abraham, to simply take God’s word that it is true.
“And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” Hebrews 11:6.
May we live and walk by faith as did Abraham, our father in the faith.
©Steve Taylor, 2023 --Used by permission
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