Have you ever wondered about the importance of faith? Not just faith for eternal life, but faith for experiencing every blessing that God wants for your life right now. Genesis chapter 15 is a wonderful part of the story of Abraham. In verse 6 we read:
And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.
And so God promised to bless Abraham, and even though he and his wife had no children, God promised that they would have a son, even in their old age, and through that son would come a great nation that would inherit the land of Canaan.
But before that would happen God says:
“You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth. (Verses 13 & 14)
God had promised Abraham great blessing, but before that would happen, they would be foreigners and slaves, but God would deliver them mightily because God is faithful.
Fast forward 400 years to the time of Moses, and all God had said had come true, and the time for God to deliver His people is at hand. You and I know, because we look back on history, that time was a hard time for the Hebrews, the descendants of Abraham. But God is faithful, and even though they complained, and as a result some of them missed the blessing God had promised, God was faithful, and their children inherited the Promised Land.
2,000 years ago, our Lord made a promise to His followers, a promise passed on to us. That promise is that He will return for His bride, the church, and that we will be taken to be with Him in His Father’s House where He has prepared a place for us.
We know that God is faithful. And more than anything else, we have been waiting for that day of promise, our spiritual parents and grand parents and great grand parents looked forward to that day. Maybe, like the generation of Moses, we will witness that day. If that is true, what would we expect. It is likely that the enemy, Satan, will throw everything at the people of God, just like he did through the Egyptians. But though it was a time of testing – God wins!
We are most certainly facing testing today. Those trials have been experienced around the world, and they have carried to faithful Christians in western countries who stand on the truth of God’s Word.
Friends, let’s learn from the mistakes of the Hebrews who complained. They grumbled against Moses, and they grumbled against God – they wanted their lives to go back to normal. But that would never happen, because God was planning something new, something better, and they had to let go of Egypt, to accept and embrace the Promised Land.
Oh how I pray that something New is about to happen. Oh how I pray that this is a time when we don’t go back to normal – but that God brings His promised deliverance. If this is that day – let us be counted among His followers who are praying that His will is done, that He protect and deliver His people. And that we – His church – the beautiful bride – will make ourselves ready – will be a glorious and faithful witness of the truth of the Gospel, that when the trumpet sounds, we will hear those wonderful words, “Well done good and faithful servant.”
