“HE HOLDS OUR HANDS”

“7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.”

Genesis 12:7

Waiting on God can test our faith and leave us wondering if He is still there for us. How do we keep ourselves from losing hope as we await the fulfillment of God's promises?

In our last blog, we learned that faith is not a mere religious idea; it is practical confidence in the character of the One who made the promise. Let’s carry on with our study of an episode in Abraham’s life.

At Shechem, God appears to Abraham again to confirm the promise He made in verses 1-3. He tells Abraham that He is giving this land to his “offspring,” a reference to Abraham’s future lineage.

But wait—Abraham is 75 years old and childless. His wife, Sarah, is 65 and well past the age of pregnancy. How could this possibly work?

But regardless of their situation and the seeming impossibility of the promise, Abraham “built an altar to the Lord.” In this passage, Abraham builds an altar twice. Why? These altars are perhaps reminders of God’s promises, sacrifices to Yahweh, or simply a way of establishing a claim on the land. It is also possible that the altars were built to conduct their worship while they were in those places. 

From Shechem, Abraham moved to the hill country east of Bethel (“house of God”), where he pitched a tent for his family. Bethel is located about 10 miles north of Jerusalem at the head of the pass off Michmash and Ai. It was once the royal Canaanite city of Luz. In times of distress, the Israelites often went to Bethel to seek the Lord’s will. When the kingdom was divided, it was included in the northern kingdom and became a center of idol worship. It was in this place that Abraham built a second altar to the Lord. The writer also notes that Abraham called upon the name of the Lord, a phrase that likely means he has left paganism to trust in the God who called him. From there, he went on going south to the Negeb, a hot, dry place.

This is perhaps a transitional part of Abraham’s life. As he gets closer and closer to the land God has promised Him, his faith gets stronger and stronger. Also, the altars he built serve as a memorial of God’s faithfulness and guiding presence.

In a similar way, God walks with us, helping us develop our faith from one stage to the next. He holds our hands, so even though we fall, He helps us get back up again. In our long seasons of waiting, we may be led into thinking that God is a little too slow in carrying out His promises. But if we only remember the moments when He saved us from our fears, we can find encouragement and keep trusting Him. At the right time, God will do what He said.

Pursue the Savior today!

Photo by Ante Hamersmit on Unsplash