Reading Plan: Genesis 15

There are times in our lives when things are uncertain and life doesn’t go the way we imagined. 2020 was one of those seasons for me. I began 2020 with a sense of peace and certainty that God was calling me to something new, but within a few weeks, Covid shut down the whole world. I had taken a step of faith, been obedient, but nothing was going the way I had imagined. For months, I felt confused. Nothing new was starting; instead, everything around me was shutting down and being placed on hold. I questioned if I had misunderstood my call, and eventually, I started to question my worth and God’s desire to use me in His plans.

As I read Genesis 15, I see Abram in a similar season on a much bigger scale. For TEN YEARS, Abram had followed God in a foreign land, waited on His promises, and remained faithful, but the promise of a son to continue his lineage had gone unanswered. God recognized Abram’s frustration and longing before Abram even opened his mouth. Before Abram spoke his concerns, confusion, and questions aloud, God immediately starts comforting Abram with the assurance of His Promises.

Abram doesn’t hold back His questions and confusion in His conversation with God. I think this speaks to the strength of his relationship with the Lord. God does not seem offended by these questions. In Psalms, David and other psalmists continually sought God with their questions, and God gave them peace and certainty in His faithfulness (Psalms 10, 22). Our Father is all-powerful, omniscient, and omnipresent, and verse after verse in scripture instructs us to take our cares, concerns, requests to the Lord (Hebrews 4:16, Philippians 4:6-7, James 1:5-6).

Lastly, God seals the promise between himself and Abram with a covenant ceremony which signified the serious nature of God’s promises. In the ceremony, between the divided animals, God walked alone through the center of the sacrifice to signify that He alone took on the burden and responsibility of fulfilling the covenant promise. God hasn’t left it up to us to come up with a plan or a way to make His promises come to pass (Tomorrow, we'll see how this method worked for Sarai and Abram in Genesis 16). God has a plan, and He wants us to be a part of HIS plans. Just like Pastor Jeff Clark said on Sunday, “God’s plans that include you are far better than your plans that include God.”

Through generations, God kept His covenant with Abram, Isaac, and Moses. The journey wasn't easy for Abram and his descendants, but God made a way. Abram’s descendants entered the promised land, and eventually, Jesus, the Son of God, was born as a descendant of Abram. Through Jesus’ life, sacrificial death, and resurrection, Jesus made a new covenant to offer God’s eternal promises to all people. Jesus took on the full weight of the new covenant so that all believers could experience the fullness of the promises of God. Abram may not have had all the details of God’s plan, but he believed God, and it was counted as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6)

Two years ago when I took that step of faith, I expected a comfortable and obvious outcome, but God doesn’t promise believers convenience. He uses imperfect people and impossible situations in unexpected places. Through a dark, uncertain season, God reminded me of His love and faithfulness over and over again, showed me His truth through a fresh perspective, and graciously provided opportunities for me to be a part of His Kingdom plans in new and unexpected ways. There will be other seasons of waiting, but I can now look back at how God moved in my life in 2020 and remember His better plans are always worth the wait.

When we’re waiting on God to move, He is with us—guiding us, comforting us, and showing us how to better trust in Him. God remembers us in our distress, He comforts us in our uncertainty, and He is faithful in every season. In good times and bad, we can look to the wonders God has performed in the past. We can read His Word and remember His promises. We can believe that His promises are always true. Even if we can’t see how His plans could possibly come to pass, we can believe and trust that God does.