relationships (Genesis 15:1-21) Communication with God

(Genesis 15:1-21) After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying,

     “Do not fear, Abram,
     I am a shield to you;
     Your reward shall be very great.”

2 Abram said, “O Lord God, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.” 4 Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” 5 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.” 6 Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. 7 And He said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.” 8 He said, “O Lord God, how may I know that I will possess it?” 9 So He said to him, “Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds. 11 The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. 14 But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. 15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 16 Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”
17 It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying,

     “To your descendants I have given this land,

From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:
19 the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite 20 and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim 21 and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.”

TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:

This is the time when Abram became a true believer, a child of God!  And this is when God gave Abram the covenant of the promise land, seed and blessings.  When Abram asked God how he could know this for certain, God used something that people used back then.  As a way to make a contract, all parties involved would create and walk through a path between animal halves.  In this way they promised that if they broke that contract, they would become like those animals.  

This form of contract was something Abram understood.   But God did something that so many people don't understand - God alone walked through the path.  In this way, all the onus is on God.  The Israelites will have their land, seed and blessing.

Salvation is the exact same way.  All we have to do is believe in the Lord Jesus, asking Him to forgive all our sins.  He then seals us with the indwelling Holy Spirit as a promise for eternal life.  God does it all for us!  It is a free gift!  And once we are saved, we have eternal security.  There is nothing we can do or not do in order to change this, because of God's grace!  Again, God does it all for us!  And as we strive to live in His will, going to Him for His strength and guidance - again - He does it all for us, working in and through us!

I know!  This particular devotion blog is about "relationships", but the most important relationship we can ever have is with the Lord.  And why would we not?  Consider how generous, loving and patient He is.  And just as He told Abram exactly what would happen with him and his descendants, and how and when they would possess the land, God tells us everything we need to know in His word. 

People will say that one needs to communicate in order to make a relationship work.  Well... here we have the Bible, the love letter from God to us.  Within the Bible itself, we see how God explains things and does things in ways that we can understand and trust.  And God asks that we pray to Him without ceasing!  As well, His love is unconditional!  We cannot find a better or closer relationship!