I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore…Genesis 22:17
Sand streamed between my fingers like sand through an hour glass, as I dug my toes further into the beach. As my eyes traced the sand dunes on the horizon, and surfed the waves along the shoreline, my heart repeatedly heard…
My thoughts toward you out number the grains of sand…
I could not comprehend what God was saying. How could the God of all creation think of me so often that His thoughts would outnumber the grains of sand? I mean there was a lot of sand on that beach! Not to mention the sea floor, and the hundreds of feet of sand I was sitting on… And that was only on my little corner of the ocean. What about the other parts of the world! His words were incomprehensible to me!
I sat there and wondered if Abraham felt the same thing when God promised him that his descendants would be as numerous as the sand on the seashore. Did he stand there scratching his head trying to wrap his brain around that promise?
I have promises from God that seem as vast as the ocean, and as difficult to comprehend as His thoughts outnumbering the grains of sand, yet my life isn’t really reflecting those promises.
How about you, has God given you promises that seem incomprehensible? Are you scratching your head because your reality doesn’t reflect your promise?
Abraham, was over 100 years old and had only two sons, but God promised him descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Yet, Abraham’s life wasn’t really a reflecting God’s promise.
How do we wrap our brain around the promises of God when our reality doesn’t reflect the promise?
The Bible says that even though Abraham’s reality didn’t reflect God’s promise he
Did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. Romans 4:20-21
In order to wrap our brain around the promise of God, in spite of our reality, we must live as Abraham lived.
1. Unwavering – Though a righteous man falls seven times he gets back up again. Proverbs 24:16
2. Strong In Faith – He gives strength to the weary and increases power to the weak. Isaiah 40:29
3. Giving God Glory – So whether you eat or drink whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Cor. 10:31
4. Be Fully Convinced – Be confident in this that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Phil 1:6
To maintain the perseverance to finish the race strong, we must live a life like we are already walking in the fulfillment of that great big promise from God. Knowing that, in spite of what our reality looks like, everything we do is all part of the plan.