Review and Trust: Genesis 15:5 - 6

In my last post, we saw God (infinite creator of the universe) initiate a conversation with Abram.  He tells him his reward will be great and pauses to hear Abram's response.  As I read their interaction, I get the sense that God is preparing Abram for something new.  In a way similar to how God prepared Adam for something new (Eve), God starts a conversation with Abram and let's him express come to the right conclusion.

Abram, for his part, realizes that he has been blessed by God and that God has kept all His promises so far.  He is so richly blessed that he needs nothing more for himself.  But he wonders about God's promise to make his family into a great nation that will inherit the land and bless the earth.  He has not seen this promise happen and he is getting too old to do it himself.

So Abram tells God about his situation.  He is getting old and God has not provided descendants to inherit his land.  The land God promised to his descendants will go to his servant.  We might be tempted to think there is some bitterness in Abram's response.  But I don't think this is the case.  I think Abram is acknowledging God's role in providing descendants here.  So, Similar to the way in which God paused in verse 15:1, Abram pauses to see how God will respond.

God responds dramatically in verse 5 just as I mentioned in my last post.  He is not harsh, or sarcastic, but kind and comforting - giving Abram the reassurance he needs.  Not only does this demonstrate something about God's character, but it strongly suggests Abram was not bitter or disrespectful to God for bringing up the issue.  This suggests we have a similar freedom with God.  We are invited to respectfully bring Him our concerns and He will answer.

For his part, Abram believes what God tells him.  Verse 15:6 says that God credits Abram with righteousness for believing.  We should ask ourselves what this means.  We should also ask what this does NOT mean!  This is not blind belief - God has proven himself to Abram regarding the promises He has made and kept - so Abram's choice to believe God was informed by his previous experiences.  But what does it mean to believe God in this case?  Put simply, Abram trusted that God would fulfill the promise He spoke of.  He trusted that God spoke the truth.

And what about crediting as righteousness?  What does that mean?  Let's go back several posts to the fall of Adam and Eve.  In the garden they proved that they did not trust God.  They thought He was not being completely good to them and they did not trust His provision for them.  Here, Abram does the opposite.  He trusts that God is being completely good to him and trusts God's promises.  Where Adam and Eve's mistrust lead to sin and death, Abram's trust is considered righteous by God.  Interestingly, this righteousness comes before any action on Abram's part (hint: that's later in the story).