Genesis 15: 1-6
1 After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” 2 But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” 4 Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Some new Christians might get the impression that you reach a certain point in your walk with Jesus that you no longer have any doubts or fears. Some might picture others like Christian super heroes doubting nothing, fearing nothing, moving straight towards the objective. And so we may look at ourselves and wonder, I have doubts. I have fears. I get worried. What kind of Christian am I?
But the fact is, everyone has doubts. Everyone has fears at times. Just look in the Bible. It’s not full of gold plated saints up there on some pedestal. Here you see sinful people clinging to the Lord while dealing with their doubts and fears. Look at Moses when God called him to service. He was filled with doubts. Lord, you can’t mean me. Look at the prophet Jeremiah. When God called him to speak his Word, he feared what people would do to him.
And ask any Christian. You know we used to have a saying aboard ship. If someone says he’s never been seasick, he’s either not spent much time at sea or he’s not telling you the truth.
So don’t get the wrong idea. The doubts and fears don’t go away never to return. Faith doesn’t go cruising through life with no challenges. Instead as we see here with Abraham:
FAITH LOOKS PAST THE DOUBTS AND FEARS
I. The Lord enables our faith.
II. He blesses our faith.
Before we get started, I want to explain something. It says Abram here, not Abraham. Why? It’s not a shortened name like Katie for Katherine or Jeff for Jeffrey. Rather Abram was this man’s name before the Lord gave him a new name to confirm his covenant. The time would come when Abram would be called Abraham which means, the father of many. Our Lord is like that. He gives us tangible things like the water of our baptism, the bread and wine of his supper to remind of his grace.
After this, our text begins. After what? Abram’s nephew, Lot, had been living near Sodom. Lot found himself sitting on a hornet’s nest of trouble. You see, the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah and Admah had gotten some kings so worked up they came down to Sodom bent on conquest. Well in the process, they carried off Abram’s nephew Lot, his family and belongings.
Abram got the report. Do you remember what he did? He showed his faith in the Lord’s promise to bless him. He took a small band of 318 men, pursued the three kings and their armies. And with the Lord’s help Abram inflicted a real drubbing on them, rescued his nephew, his family and possessions.
Yet Kings don’t take it too kindly when someone humiliated them. They would look for a chance to get after Abram. Abram know that. So humanly speaking, Abram had plenty of reason to fear. And it’s very likely such fears crossed his mind and tugged at his faith.
But Abram was beginning to fear something much worse. Here you might think that Abram was most upset by the prospect of his wealth going to someone outside the family. But it’s so much more than that.
You see, the Lord had made Abram a very special promise that has everything to do with you and me. In you all people of the earth will be blessed. The Bible teaches us that meant that one of Abram’s descendants would be the Savior of the world. God promised that one special person from Abram’s family line would bring rescue from the wages of our sin which is death.
But the Lord had made that promise when Abram was 75 years old and his wife Sarai was 65. Her years of child bearing were well past and besides she had never given Abram any children. And now 10 more years had passed. Plenty of time for the doubts and fears to put a real drag on Abram’s faith.
The Lord knew that as he knows each of us. So he came to Abram in a vision. He came to minister to his doubts and fears. He came to enable Abram to look right past them. He said to him. Do not be afraid, I am your shield, your very great reward.
Imagine that. The Lord who made this universe just by the power of his Word, promised to protect Abram as he lived his life from day to day, from those kings if need be. But even more important, God would shield Abram from the wages of his sin. He would shield him from death by keeping his promise to send a Savior for us all. Do not be afraid, I am your shield, your very great reward.
But Abram was still puzzled. The doubts in his heart would not give up so easily. He said to the Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless… You have given me no children. So the Lord ministered to his faith once more. You will have a son And more than that. Look at the stars. Count them if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have. Here God came to Abram and enabled his faith to look the doubts and fears.
What about you? What doubts, what fears are tugging at your faith? Does it seem that God is far away, that he doesn’t care about you. Do you doubt his love or fear the future? Or worse yet, do you doubt that your are his child? Well if that’s the case, seek the Lord where he may be found. In his Word and Sacrament. Look to God’s promises. Let him minister to you with words such as these. Do not be afraid, I am your shield, your very great reward.
And more than that, see how God has delivered on his promises. Look how he kept this all important promise to bless all peoples thorough one of Abram’s descendants. He kept that promise, didn’t he? That’s why we celebrate Christmas and Easter. That’s why we call a certain Friday, Good Friday. A child was born to Abram’s family line but not just any child, the Son of God come to live for you and die for you, the Son of God come to make you God’s child and give you hope.
So when those doubts and fears come your way, go to God’s Word and let him minister to you. For here he enables your faith. He enables us to look past those doubts and fears.
Today we hear Moses describe one small episode in Abram’s life with God. I urge you to read the rest. For in Abram, we can see ourselves. At times, we see a faith which is so strong. At other times, like this one, he is troubled. Yet in spite of all, Abram never fell into unbelief. He never lost sight of God’s promises.
That’s our life isn’t it? As a man said to Jesus long ago. I believe, help me overcome my unbelief. That’s our life as Christians. We believe in the face of our doubts and fears. And here we see something quite wonderful. God blesses our faith.
Moses writes here: Abram believed the LORD. This was not something new for Abram. Here once more he said Amen to God’s promises. He trusted that somehow, someway the Lord would give him a son. Paul said it this way in Romans, Against all hope, Abraham believed. (Rom 7:18) He believed that from his line God would send the Savior he promised. Jesus tells us that in John 8: 56. He said to the unbelieving Jews: Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day… Abram looked forward to that time with a faith that looked past the doubts and fears.
And now comes the exciting part! Abram believed the Lord and he credited it to him as righteousness. When you go home today, I want you to underline that verse in your Bible. Genesis 15: 6. It is one of the most important verses in this book. For it describes how our merciful God saves us guilty sinners from what we deserve.
It starts with this understanding. God is perfect and holy and no matter what we think of this, he demands the same from us. What that means is that we be perfectly righteous, never angry, never selfish, never having filthy thoughts, always loving and serving the people around us.
I can go on but I won’t. You and I are far from perfect. We are far from righteous. We are sinful and because God is just, he must condemn our sin.
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. In his mercy, God promised Abram a son. In his mercy, he promised him and all people a Savior.
Well Abram believed that promise and here’s the amazing thing! God counted his faith as righteousness. He blessed his faith. And he does the same for you. What we so tragically lack, God provides through our faith in the same Savior Abram looked forward to.
But don’t get the wrong idea about our faith. Abram’s faith and ours did not somehow earn our way with God. Think about it this way. Say you have nothing and nowhere to go. You haven’t eaten for two days. You put your hand out to a person coming by. He gives you some money to get something to eat. Do you then say, my hand sure saved me. Of course not. It’s the goodness of the person who blessed you.
It’s the same thing with faith. Abram did not earn anything by trusting God’s promise. And neither do we. Yet God places into our empty hands of faith a marvelous gift. The perfect life that Jesus lived in our place. The forgiveness that he won for us on the cross. By faith he gives us what Jesus earned and what we need to be his people.
And so the doubts and the fears will come our way. But God comes to us in his Word, in his Sacrament, and he enables us. He enables to look past those doubts and fears to the cross of his dear Son , to an empty tomb which is full of hope. And there our God blesses us with love, forgiveness and life. Amen.