Dear Friends,
Ever feel like if you just saw God face to face you would never doubt Him again? If you could just hear His audible voice, you’d never question His words?
Let’s talk about that.
Abraham stood before the Lord, and he received a promise: Look up at the stars, Abraham. Count them. I will give you more sons than the number of stars in the heavens.
Mind blown.
He heard the voice of God! Surely that’s a prophetic word you can take straight to the bank. That one will keep you steady with no wavering. I mean, what more do you want than the direct Word of the Lord straight from His mouth?
But we know the story. We live the story. Time passes, distraction and doubt creep in, the power of delay holds sway.
As the days, months, years slip by and Sarah and Abraham’s longing for children goes unmet, their hearts grow restless. The questions begin to rise in their hearts, imperceptibly at first, then as a clamor they can no longer ignore.
They face a question the Spirit might ask their weary hearts:
Is the promise of God more real to you than your barrenness?
The evidence of lack is not hard to find. Empty arms that have longed to envelope children. The same size tent they’ve always needed. The happy sounds of the servants’ children playing in the camp.
And yet, in a sweeping move of kindness, the Lord puts evidence of His promise right in front of them, too. Evidence just as undeniable as the ache they feel in their hearts. He points them to the heavens:
Abraham, count the stars! Number your sons!
If the fulfillment were coming the next week, or the next month, perhaps the Lord wouldn’t have given such a concrete, physical manifestation of His promise. But when we face delay before the fulfillment, He knows we need a reminder that will stand unmoved, right in front of our faces.
And so He gives us evidence all around: the sun that rises each day as a reminder of His faithfulness (Psalm 19), a rainbow after the rain, to remind us of His mercy, and yes, even the Jewish people all over the earth—the sons of Abraham—as a reminder that His promises are indeed more real than a long life of barrenness.
What promise are you clinging to right now? Look up to the stars and remember.
He will be faithful.
—Anna