Letting God Be God

Read: Genesis 15

I have always found the story of God cutting a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15 so incredible. Abraham appears to have given up on actually getting the promised son and having his descendants inhabit the land. Rather than getting frustrated at Abraham’s unbelief, God takes the time to restate the promises that He has made. God takes the time to do this. He didn’t have to. He could have said, “I’ve told you once, Abraham; shouldn’t that be enough?!” But instead, He takes Abraham outside and shows him the stars, reminding him of the promise that his descendants would be greater in number than that. I’ve never noticed it before, but right after that verse, it says that “Abram believed the Lord.” Apparently, he got it when it came to having descendants but wasn’t completely convinced about getting the land. Again, Abraham needed something he could see when it came to this promise as well. And here is where we get into the amazing part of Genesis 15.

God had Abraham bring some animals, cut them in half, lay the pieces side by side with a space in the middle, and then guard them for the day from the vultures. When it gets dark, Abraham falls into a deep sleep where the Lord was able to speak to him and show him that He meant business. God restates His promises, and then Abram sees a flaming torch and a smoking firepot pass between the cut animals. (By the way, one commentator mentioned the fact that isn’t it interesting that later, when the Children of Israel are leaving Egypt, God leads them with a pillar of fire and a pillar of clouds – an interesting throw-back to the vision that Abraham had in these verses.)

God did all of that to explain what I think is one of the most incredible reminders of the wonderful God that we serve. In these verses, God is the initiator. It is God who is the originator. It is God that carries the weight of the covenant. In Old Testament times, this symbol for cutting a covenant where the people would walk through the cut animals represented the statement, “May the same thing happen to me if I do not keep my end of this arrangement.” But notice here that it is only God that passes through the animals – not Abraham!

Again, it is true that we are not under the same covenant as Abram was, but it still is such a wonderful reminder today that we need to just let God be God. It’s not always all depending on me alone. It’s not all resting on my shoulders. It’s not all determined by my actions. That means I can let God be in control; I can let the weight rest on His shoulders; I can let Him do what I clearly cannot. I can let God be God.

Question for today: How am I doing at letting God be God?