and the Lord says, “Go, walk through the
length and breadth of the land, for I am
giving it to you.” (Ibid. 13:17)
And after Abram conducts a Gideonlike military success, God says to Abram:
“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield,
your very great reward.” (Ibid. 15:1)
Abram makes his first verbal response to
God at this point: “O Sovereign Lord, what
can you give me since I remain childless?”
“Then . . . the Lord . . . took him outside
and said, ‘Look up at the heavens and count
the stars – if indeed you can count them. .
. . So your offspring will be.’ [And] Abram
believed the Lord.” (Ibid. 15:2, 5-6)
The promises that the Lord makes to
Abram are crucial to the call and response.
The Lord’s blessings are present throughout creation and God intends for
us to live in those blessings, but we need help moving beyond what we see
immediately before us. This is why promises are important.
God’s vision for us is much greater than what we see for ourselves. We
tend to want to stick with our familiar little ball of what we know, but God
sees whole worlds in us. Through Divine promises, we can catch glimpses of
that bigger picture and move toward occupying it, even if in our own lifetime
we cannot fully realize what our lives can lead to if we choose to respond
affirmatively to God’s call.
The Bible records many Divine promises that prompt us to look further
than our immediate experience. One good example is from Jeremiah:
While Divine
promises enrich life
in the physical world
they also transcend
the limitations of
that world. Divine
promise calls us to a
personal relationship
we can have in spirit
with our Creator.
I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise . . . . For I know the plans I have
for you, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
(Jeremiah 29:10-11)
Consider Abram’s situation. He lived in the light of a promise that in the
most outward, obvious sense was not fulfilled. And yet his choosing to re