Last 5 Days
How shall I know?
7 And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” 8 But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” 9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. 11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. 16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”
“O Lord GOD, how am I know that I shall possess it?“ Abram asked. If I were God, I would be so offended. Wasn’t my promise good enough for you? But God did not get angry. He went through the traditional ritual of sealing an agreement by cutting the various sacrifices into halves. Anyone that breaks the deal shall be like the sacrifices. Why did God do that? He is almighty God. His words alone are worth much more than all these rituals or ceremonies. God is not subjected to any of these oaths. Yet He put himself under such assurances, understood by the mortal men. That is our almighty God – humble and meek.
Abraham kept alert to ensure nothing would come in to disturb their agreements. He successfully drove away the birds that wanted to devour the sacrifices. But the mortal man eventually fell asleep. So were his descendants, who would fall into Egyptian bondage. Yet God, in His faithfulness, would bring them back. God waited for four generations, allowing the Amorites to repent despite knowing very well that they would never regret it. This is the love of God, even for sinners who would never repent.
Finally, God sent fire to consume all the offerings as a seal of the agreement.
Now that we understand the humility and love of God in keeping his part of the agreement. Shall we not learn to keep our promise to love God with all our heart, soul and mind? Shall we not learn to love our neighbours as ourselves?