Promises and Nephews

This morning I was reading in good ole Genesis about good ole Abraham, or Abram as he was formerly known. The particular passage we should pay attention to today is in chapter 15 of Genesis. So far in his story Abram was told by God to go from the land he has always known and go where ever God ended up leading him, with no end destination in mind. He had traveled to a new place, lied to Pharoh, almost lost his wife to Pharoh, gotten his wife back, went to a new land, split ways with his nephew, rescued his nephew, and had been blessed. 

Speaking of nephews, here is mine wearing my husband's shoes. 

Woo, its kind of exhausting, but it's scandalous and makes for good reading. Popular novels have nothing on this guy's life. 

Let's key in, though, on chapter 15 verse 6 which says "And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness." (NIV) 

So, Abram was in a situation where God told him that he would have many offspring and he would be made a great nation, but at that time the heir to Abram's stuff was a guy who wasn't a child of Abram. He may have been a trusted member of his household or even a slave. However, God made Abram the seemingly far-fetched promise that he would bear children in his and Sarai's old ages and they would have many descendants. It sounds crazy to me, and likely to Abram too, but he still believed God. 

This verse 6 that we are talking about was quoted in the New Testament 4 times. It seems pretty significant to me. Every time I come across it I find my self astonished by this and I have to stop and ask God to help me to believe Him. 

You see, unbelief is a sin. Firstly, not believing who God is or that He sent his son is the ultimate sin. So, us self-righteous people who do believe that probably think that we don't struggle with unbelief. (If you're arrogant like me and think you are awesome). 

Have you ever worried? Have you ever known that plan that God had in mind, but instead of waiting patiently tried to "fix" the situation yourself? Yes, my friends, here is where our unbelief rears its' ugly head.

I have a struggle in my life where I often think "this really has nothing to do with God, its just a thing that I deal with." To think that God doesn't care about the inner-workings of my brain, my very thoughts, is unbelief. 

He is so personal and wants us to draw near to Him. He promises to draw near to us too.

What promise of God are you not believing today?