Humble obedience and worship open the door to fellowship with God! Fear is a part of the human experience but with God at our side, we need not fear! Don't you love that Abram shows us to be honest with God? His questioning is followed with faith that is credited as righteousness. God's response to the initial question reminded Abram to look not at earthly realities but to look to Him--and Abram did just that! We need to do the same: look beyond what we see to the God who sees all.
This faith-filled looking was a necessity before God could answer Abram's next question: "How can I know?" What a big question; what a common question! It is a question whose answer necessitates looking with faith in the goodness of God! God's knowing includes truths that would devastate us if we did not have faith in Him. Abram was prepared by his earlier expression of faith to look beyond the prophesied captivity of his descendants to the fulfillment of God's promises. We truly do not want to know the future until we are settled in our faith in God's goodness!
Then we come back to the necessity of obedience in our faithwalk. Part of God's answer to Abram's request about 'knowing,' included bringing sacrifices to Him. Abram obeyed. He also protected his sacrifices from scavengers. Like Abram, we need to ask of God; we need to obey to the extent we can and then we need to trust Him. Because the final beauty in this chapter is this: the responsibility was assumed by God. God does not ask of us what we can not do. He understands that we are but dust; He understands that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak: and by His knowledge many are justified! Praise God, He IS good and He is powerful and He is loving!
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