“O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”

 “O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”

Sunday, February 20, 2022

Abraham asks a good question, if, in fact, it is good to ask God such questions. God had made a promise three chapters earlier, and three chapters is a long time to wait. God was reiterating the promise, even showing Abraham the stars of the nighttime sky, comparing their number to the number of Abraham’s descendants. Except that Abraham didn’t have any - not even one. “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it (the promise).”

I suppose the short answer would be, because God had promised it. There’s the old saying, “God said it; I believe it; that settles it.” But it’s not always that easy. When the situation seems impossible, well, it seems impossible. When the promise is delayed (according to our expectation, not God’s), we easily think it might never happen.

God has promised that Jesus is coming again. That kind of thing doesn’t happen every day. It almost seems impossible that Jesus would “break through the blue” and interject Himself (again) into human history. Also, Christians for many, many generations have been awaiting this event for a long, long time. “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?"

In Genesis 15, God responded to Abraham’s question with a ceremony - a covenant ceremony. It was a little like a wedding, other than the split-open animals. But God was showing that He was serious about His promise, and bound Himself with an oath. Some have suggested that the meaning of this ceremony was: “and so may it be done to Me if I fail to honor My promise.” So may God be split in half?

The covenant ceremony by which the Lord has affirmed the potency of His promises to us is somewhat different than Abraham’s, but in a strange way, somewhat the same. You see, when God promised us forgiveness of sins and eternal life, including a home in heaven, it seemed impossible, and far away. “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?"

God enacted another ceremony, on Golgotha, confirming His seriousness about the promise. But this time, it was not a threat of being split apart, but a reality: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” And that’s how we know. If God takes His promise that seriously, then we should trust it that sincerely.