Belief and Promise

Belief and Promise is a simple thought reflection from Genesis 15:6 about the connection between my belief in God and His promises that He keeps to me.

“Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6, HCSB)

At some point in the relationship between God and Abram, Abram decided to believe that God was important to believe. He discovered that if God made a promise to Him, then Abram could trust God. Abram also realized that if he followed what God told him to do, then it would go well in his life.

Abram did not believe in Jesus as a “personal Savior” (although clearly, He looked to salvation through Jesus in the future. Instead, Abram had a belief that God would be faithful. One sees this because Abram questioned the future of his family line.

God made a promise:

“After these events, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield; your reward will be very great.” (Genesis 15:1, HCSB)

Abram was concerned about his future after the previous battle. He obviously had fear about the future of his family line. God shared this promise. Yet, Abram was not convinced.

“But Abram said, “Lord God, what can You give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” Abram continued, “Look, You have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir.”” (Genesis 15:2–3, HCSB)

So God answers with another promise:

“Now the word of the Lord came to him: “This one will not be your heir; instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir.”” (Genesis 15:4, HCSB)

Abram is not sure about this. So God took him outside to show Abram a picture of how God is going to preserve his family line.

“He took him outside and said, “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then He said to him, “Your offspring will be that numerous.””

(Genesis 15:5, HCSB)

To confirm this special relationship, God makes another promise to Abram:

“He also said to him, “I am Yahweh who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”” (Genesis 15:7, HCSB)

Again, Abram questions how this will come to pass. So God tells Abram to make a covenant with Him. During the process of the covenant-making process, God makes Abram fall into a deep sleep. During the deep sleep, God reveals another set of promises through the vision:

God tells Abram about the future of the nation he will form – the slavery in Egypt.
God tells Abram that He will avenge this act to the nation that enslaves them.
God reveals to Abram when He will die.
God tells Abram exactly when His descendants will return to the land God gives Abram.

The major we learn from this is that a belief in God is connected to the promises of God. God keeps His promises so God can be trusted to follow.