Abraham is old and so is his wife, Sarah, so he is reasoning that his chances of fathering a child are little to none. But on this night that Abraham is standing outside, in the stillness of the universe, God reaches down to Abraham. Maybe God wasn't physically with Abraham, but I have this image when I close my eyes of a comforting arm around Abraham's shoulders and the other arm stretched out to the sky. God makes a grand gesture to the night sky and tells Abraham, look at those stars, I will bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky.
Did you know, that on that night, so long ago, you and I were each one of those stars that God pointed out in the sky?
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What God plans to do through Abraham is fulfill a beautiful, faithful promise. In Abraham's day, people were so concerned with inheritance. What did they stand to gain from those who came before them. God's plan was to start through Abraham a heritage of faith. What he would hand down to his children, and his children's children was the love for and faith in a beautiful and bountiful God.
God adopted Abraham, made him His own. God blessed Abraham. He promised to do that for generations to come.
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So what does this heritage mean for us today? We are those stars that God pointed to. We are the one's that He is faithful to, and continues to pour out blessings on. Our inheritance binds our hearts to God and to the hearts of His people. Our brothers and sisters.
What does this heritage of faith do? For one week out of the summer it brings together a youth group from the smallest of towns in the middle of Illinois with a youth group from the biggest and busiest of cities. It brings together youth who have grown up in different states and different nations. Their social cultures are different. Their style, their language and slang vary. But they love each other. For this week all the things that the world tells them should be barriers between them are torn down. They realize that they are children of the same God. They are part of the same inheritance that was handed down through Abraham. It is this heritage of faith that binds their hearts.
What does this heritage of faith do? For one week out of the summer it brings together a youth group from the smallest of towns in the middle of Illinois with a youth group from the biggest and busiest of cities. It brings together youth who have grown up in different states and different nations. Their social cultures are different. Their style, their language and slang vary. But they love each other. For this week all the things that the world tells them should be barriers between them are torn down. They realize that they are children of the same God. They are part of the same inheritance that was handed down through Abraham. It is this heritage of faith that binds their hearts.
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Psalm 147:4 He determined the number of stars. He gives all of them their names.
God gave you your name that night, so long ago as He spoke to Abraham. He had you planned long before you were born.
Psalm 8:3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place.
You are the work of God's fingers. He crafted you, and made a promise to you. To bless you. When He set you in place, He set you a place in His inheritance for you. He wrote you into His story.
You are blessed by the God that knew you long before your first breath.
~SP
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