Walking by Faith

Gen 15:1  After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
Gen 15:2  And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
Gen 15:3  And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
Gen 15:4  And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
Gen 15:5  And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
Gen 15:6  And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

Gen 15:1  After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

Abram has faced many enemy troops, he worshipped the King of Peace and turned away the King of Sodom and these are the after theses things that Scripture speaks of before us today.

He has experienced a great victory in battle and in spiritual realms but now he is living out something that we all tend to face after such great episodes—DEPRESSION!

What was it? FEAR!

Now God has come to Abram and tells him not to fear. Perhaps he is looking at all the new enemies he has made or perhaps he is thinking that he has messed up by not taking the spoils of the battle, either way it is something that we all tend to face when we have such great victories in our lives, especially in our walk with Christ.

God is telling Abram “Don’t be afraid! I am your shield!, I am your protection!” and He is also telling him “I am your reward!, don’t worry about money! I will take care of you!”

Fear and faith almost alwaysseem to go hand in hand and these usually happen together in order to draw out the other. Many times a faithful happening or an enormous spiritual  experience that builds faith usually is followed by fear of some sort. The good news is that God knows us completely and He knows how we work and so He will use these times of doubt, these times of fear to build our faith.

Gen 15:2  And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
Gen 15:3  And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
Gen 15:4  And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir

In Abrams day, not having an heir was not a good thing and if you didn’t then your servants first-born would become your heir instead.  God tells Abram that his heir will in fact come from his own bowels. This child will be Abrams.

Notice that Abram is real. He is not some whitewashed fake illustration that we can look up too. He is asking a question that we all still ask God, especially during these times when God is so quiet.

He asks God “What are You going to give me?”

OK God You are my shield and my reward but what are You going to give me? He asks God even after God has given him His word. Notice that God is so loving and patient with Abram and that gives us hope and satisfaction that God deals with each of us in such a loving way. He doesn’t get mad, or impatient with Abram He just answers him again.

Thankfully, that is how God still deals with His own. He is still patiently answering our questions, using fear if it comes up to build our faith!!