05/07/07

Bought by Belief

Acts 7:5
"He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child."
Acts 7:1-21

An engagement ring is tangible evidence of a promise. Words can be cheap, but the price of a ring placed on the finger carries more weight than just that of the stone. It says, "I will marry you." We like tangible evidences, but it takes more faith to believe when no evidence is given.

God gave great promises to Abraham--a nation, and a land for that nation to occupy. At the time Abraham did not have any children, nor had God given him any land. A promise with no evidence, yet Abraham believed.

In time a son was born. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the 12 patriarchs, and ultimately a great nation resulted. God kept His promise.

But when Abraham died, all he owned of the Promised Land was a grave--and he paid for it himself. Yet he believed God. That is why he bought a burial plot in the land promised to him. He knew that one day the land would be given to him and his descendants. Ultimately God gave the Promised Land to the nation descended from Abraham. God kept His promise.

God still keeps His promises-perhaps not in our timing or according to our wishes, but He does keep them. Sometimes we have material or physical evidence for those promises, but often we do not. What we do have is His Word, which He calls on us to believe, just as Abraham did. The question is never, "Will God do what He says?" but, "Will we believe?"

Prayer
God, help me be like Abraham, not expecting or demanding evidences now. Help me believe, trusting You for the "right now" and the right way to fulfill Your promises to me.
Your child.

[Reference Scripture]

Acts 7:1-16
1 Then the high priest asked him, "Are these charges true?"
2 To this he replied: "Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. 3 'Leave your country and your people,' God said, 'and go to the land I will show you.'
4 "So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. 5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. 6 God spoke to him in this way: 'Your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 7 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,' God said, 'and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.' 8 Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.
9 "Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him 10 and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt; so he made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.
11 "Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our fathers could not find food. 12 When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit. 13 On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph's family. 14 After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. 15 Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our fathers died. 16 Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.

The Word of God was given free to us, therefore we should also share it freely with others.
(All rights are with God)