Verse of the Day Devotion. Genesis 15:6

“Then he believed in the LORD; and He credited it to him as righteousness.” – Genesis 15:6

After Abram rescued Lot from captivity, God gave a promise to Abram in a vision. “After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.” Genesis 15:1. There was a good reason for God to say this. Abram had just defeated a much larger army made up of a partnership of four kings. He had reason to be afraid, expecting an attack of retribution, but God promised him a great reward. And as we see in the next verse, he has a greater desire which he believes could not be fulfilled. “But Abram said, Lord GOD, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” Genesis 15:2. To Abram, having a son to carry on the family line was more important than anything else. During that time, if there was not a son to carry on the line, it would fall upon the head servant of the house, who would then be the heir.

Then we read in verse 4, “Then behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” Genesis 15:4. What is amazing is that Abram was somewhere between 70 and 80 years old, while Sara would have been between 60 and 70 years old, both long after the age of childbearing.  However, as we see in our focus verse, Abram believed God, and because he believed, God declared Abram righteous, and then shows him something else. “And He took him outside and said, now look toward the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to count them. And He said to him, so shall your descendants be.” Genesis 15:5. God told him that the number of stars was a picture of the number of his descendants; innumerable. We see this same idea in Hosea. “Yet the number of the sons of Israel will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted” Hosea 1:10a.

In response to all these promises, we read in our focus verse. “Then he believed in the LORD; and He credited it to him as righteousness.” Genesis 15:6. Notice the wording ‘believed in the Lord’. The action of faith preceded the vocabulary of faith. In other words, by virtue of his earlier obedient response to a word from God, Abram was putting his faith in God. And this was the case even though he saw this impossible, because of his and his wife’s age, which was well beyond childbearing age. It was deemed an impossibility as far as Abram was concerned, but because God promised him many offspring, Abram believed and trusted God that He would bring it to pass.

There are two things we can glean from this.  First, God can do anything no matter how impossible it may seem to be.  If God promises us something, it will come to pass. There should be no doubt about this.  So, we can look at the promises of God throughout the scriptures and know that they will  come to pass.   And second, this is a beautiful picture of the gospel.  If we truly believe that Christ died, was buried, and then rose again for our salvation, and we accept it and live our lives as such, then our salvation is sure.  Note Jesus’ words in John’s gospel, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16  Do you truly believe, and does your belief reflect the light of Christ to others?  If so, then God has declared you righteous and His promises will be fulfilled for you. Let us all who truly believe rejoice!

 William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, President and Founder of True Devotion Ministries.