God’s Seemingly Impossible Promise
Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
After Abraham freed Lot from captivity, we read of a conversation Abraham had with God through a vision (Genesis 15:1). God reinforced to Abraham that He would protect Abraham and be his “reward.” Abraham expressed to God his doubt. How could God start a nation from Abraham’s descendants since Abraham was aged and had no offspring (verses 2-3)?
God answered Abraham’s doubt and specifically assured him that “one who will come from your own body shall be your heir” (verse 4).
Just having a child seemed totally out of the realm of possibility to Abraham—but God then promised even more. He promised that the descendants who came from his body would be innumerable like the stars in heaven!
Abraham was faced with a choice. Would he believe that seemingly impossible promise? Would he trust and believe that God had the power to make it happen, despite the physical circumstances?
This is not just a decision Abraham had to make. Every person who opens the Bible and reads the promises of God has to make the same decision. Will we believe that an invisible God can do the physically impossible? Or will we merely believe what we can physically see with our eyes?
Tomorrow we will learn the choice Abraham made.
To learn more about the promises God gave to Abraham, read our article “Promises to Abraham.”
Tomorrow on the Daily Bible Verse Blog: “Belief and Righteousness.”
