Look to the Stars

 "But Abram replied, ‘O Sovereign LORD, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son?’” Genesis 15:2.

Now before we get consumed with judgment for poor Abraham, we must consider the tender intimacy that he experienced with God. Their relationship had transformed from the Creator and the created to the Father and His son. James goes so far in 2:23 to say that ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God's friend.’ The more intimate they became the more comfortable Abraham was in asking God anything. He fully understood that what he held in reserve from God would become a barrier to their relationship. He formed the brazen question to a God who isn’t fickle or thin-skinned. He had the courage to verbalize the question, and gave expression to what most of us feel in our hearts all these years later.

‘O Sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have _______?’ We all possess a blank that our hearts can fill in. In our prayers we fully recognize God is powerful enough to do the impossible…He is sovereign. In our prayers we acknowledge that His other blessings are good. But do our words fall short from asking the courageous question of Abraham…what good are the blessings when my heart longs for the one thing I don’t have?

God didn’t punish Abraham for his honesty. God didn’t withhold future fulfillment or blessings because He thought Abraham was greedy. God fully understood the heart of His child, and the longing of his child’s heart. And God still does. Romans 2:11 states that God does not have favorites, and that each man is no greater than another before Him. Even after God answered his question by taking him outside and showing him the numerous stars as it related to future blessings, Abraham continued the questioning. He asked another question that probably strikes the chord of our heart… ‘LORD, how can I know?’ Genesis 15:8. Again, God reaffirmed that His promise would be fulfilled in His timing…and it was. Abraham finally got the longing of heart, and because He believed, God credited righteousness to his spiritual bank.

I don’t know what _______ you hold in your heart, but God certainly does, and He also knows mine. When we pray let us all have the courage to fill in that blank and allow God to be God, the one of mystery…the one of perfect timing…the one of ultimate power. May we have eyes to see that God who has displayed past blessings has a whole sky of stars representing our blessings to come. Whenever you are feeling discouraged about what you do not have, look to the stars! Your future blessings are innumerable and uncountable thanks to a gracious God.