Look into the night sky, and count the stars if you can… that's how many descendants you'll have. Genesis 15:5 (MSG)
Count the Stars – The Promise Series – Part 3
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 | PART 7 | PART 8
In Genesis 12, we read that God told Abraham to leave his family, tribe, and land behind and go somewhere new. It’s difficult for us to understand how revolutionary this was.
It’s not uncommon in this day and age for people to move towns, states, even countries, and be thousands of miles away from their blood relatives. Technology connects instantly no matter how far we roam. But back in Abraham's day, people were tribal. You were born into a tribe, you grew up in that tribe, you fought with that tribe, killed for that tribe, or were killed with that tribe; you married within your tribe, brought up your kids within that tribe, then you died surrounded by your tribe, and were buried with tribe members past.
Abraham left his tribe. He would have been called a rebel, a usurper, perhaps even the ancient Hebrew equivalent of a heretic. He was doing something that had never been done before.
He, along with Sarah, would start a different tribe that wouldn’t be like the other violent, insular, tribes around, but would be an expansive tribe that blessed others.
Then something else happened. In Genesis 15, God said to Abraham, “Look into the night sky, and count the stars if you can… that's how many descendants you'll have.”
Abraham was not a young man when he set out on this adventure, leaving everything he knew and loved behind. The Biblical text records that he was seventy-five. The ancient stories don’t give us any more details than that. Which means, we get to use our imagination. Perhaps Sarah had lost multiple children. Perhaps she had never fallen pregnant… and who knows whether that was her body's, or Abraham's doing. Had they anguished over it? Fought over it? Cried and made sacrifices to all the gods they could for years, only to have their tears lost to the dust. Had they suffered in hope until that hope slowly and painfully turned frail and brittle and crumbled into nothingness?
One night, in a new land, doing a new thing, God told Abraham to look up at the stars…
He believed God, but he couldn’t see HOW they would possess the land God had promised. How they would have children, let alone descendants as numerous as the lights in the night sky. It was like staring into a murky and dark ocean of impossibility.
He asked God a question I’m pretty sure we’ve all asked,
“O Sovereign Lord, how can I be sure?”
How can we be sure?
Can we trust God?
Can I?
A few decades ago, Hemingway wrote exactly what Abraham was learning. He said: “The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.”
The stars were Abraham's invitation to trust. And trust is the gateway to hope.
Four thousand years ago, when it’s believed this event took place, things were very different. If you read this story without that in mind, you’ll completely miss the point.
People in Abraham's day would never have dared ask a god if it could be trusted. They were too busy sacrificing, and doing good, and trying to earn their god's favor by appeasing them with whatever they thought would work. Some even went as far as sacrificing their first born child to try and catch divine favor.
But Abraham had no children. He didn’t have that ace up his sleeve (doesn’t that make you cringe?).
Something different happened. Something revolutionary. Instead, God promised him children (I wrote a series on this called “Sacrifice and Sons” back in 2017). This God wasn’t a god that would take and take and take until there was nothing left. He wouldn’t demand that which was most precious to Abraham.
He was generous and expansive and close.
He could be trusted with what was most precious to Abraham.
Which was a new idea.
Which was why Abraham asked, “How can I be sure?”
Which was when something really strange happened…
Go to How Can I Be Sure? – The Promise Series – Part 4
Written by Liz Milani
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