Greetings From The Eternal Creator of All Matter: That's all I want

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 NASB)

After Abram defeats the victorious kings of the east with a small band of nomads and three brothers is when God says this.  "After these things..." refers to returning from the battle and after-battle party.  If Abram can defeat a large army of four kings why does he need a "shield"?  If he gave all the booty back and kept nothing, if his wealth was too great to support both he and Lot in the same place, then doesn't he already have a great reward?  He clearly wasn't looking for a reward, or he would have kept a portion of the spoils or the whole of it the king of Sodom offered to him.

So when God shows up again, why start His dialogue this way?  If I'm doing well, and I have just experienced a rousing success, why would God come to me and say I am your protection where you're strong.  Don't I need the encouragement where I'm weak?  Wouldn't it make more sense to discuss, as Abram dives right into, Abram's childlessness?  Why would the All-Knowing Creator of the universe dive into what is of little interest to Abram?

Abram brings up two things that argue against the promise that his "reward will be very great."  First, he's childless.  Second, a guy from his household, an employee, is set to gain all Abram's wealth when he dies.  This does not support the earlier promise of descendants like the dust.  Perhaps God does not include that in His opener, but Abram wastes no time going there.

Abram's change of topic couldn't have surprised God.  He goes there with Abram, so He must be okay with it.  So why not start there?  I believe at this point, questioning along this line is where I explore the character of my Master in greater depth.

Right off the top, I find something without having to "interpret" into the text, or theorize about what it means.  God and Abram have a very close relationship, like close friends rather than the God of the universe and a goat-herd.  I think that in the past, I have read passages like this and glossed over it so fast I missed a critical piece.  I assume that God is not that distant then like He is now (so many things wrong with that assumption).  I just put the people (including God) into that mundane bucket of "Bible people"; all who have experiences with God that don't happen any more.  It so disconnects the story from my life that making a practical connection back is nearly impossible.

God and Abram "discuss" things.  The opening of God is like a "greeting" as much as it is a promise.  It contains a promise, but it's like, "Hail, worthy friend" in format.  It's not so much a promise as it is a blessing.  It is the etiquette of visiting and hospitality in the Middle East.  And the King of the Universe, in the midst of forming stars and swirling galaxies, takes the time to visit His friend Abram, even following etiquette as He does so.  That is shocking! That flies in the face of the mundane, the ordinary, the imaginable.  Can you imagine if Mamre was also visiting, here is Abram introducing the two, "This is my good friend Yahweh, Maker of all things.  Yahweh, this is my buddy Mamre, but, of course, You already knew that..."

Of course, this is a vision, not a physical visitation (that comes some chapters later).  Still, it is a visitation, and God opens with a blessing.  It is like two people now a days greeting with a handshake.  Can you imagine, in a dream, God visits and greets you with a handshake?  How about with one of those shoulder-touch man-hug handshakes?  And this vision keeps going as Abram is awake, by the way, so this is not technically a dream.  In this account, there may not be someone visibly with Abram, but the conversation clearly indicates God was right there with Abram, visible or not.

Okay, the obvious application here is that I want that relationship!  Sure God doesn't  visit every day, but still, like this, once every 12 years or so, I want it!  It's just not acceptable to say that things are different now.  God didn't preserve this account for 4000 years for me to say that things are different, and that's just not how God works now.  Obviously He can.  Obviously He will.  Clearly it's not outside the realm of possibilities with God, and it is also well within the bounds of a relationship with Him.

I just saw a movie the other night where some guy who didn't believe in fairies is taken "Fairyland" and a forced to serve a sentence because of his "dissemination of disbelief".  People can imagine fairies, but having a sit down with God over coffee discussing the day is too fantastic.  Even the "Almighty" movies don't quite approach this level of intimacy with God.

Here's the sad part for me, I am a follower of Jesus, believing that God has raised Him from the dead, confessing Him as Lord and Master, claiming that He is both God and man.  That means that His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, has taken up residence in me.  The Spirit of the Living God resides in me.  It's not that I have "earned" this or that I finally convinced Him to visit.  He lives here.  What possible excuse do I have to NOT have this relationship?  What is wrong with me?  This should be the "normal" of my life, not the exceptional dream!

To be fair, there is a lot of talk about "quiet times" and "time alone with God" and I get that.  I've said it myself, and I believe that my time with God in prayer is vital to my relationship with Him.  But to be honest, not just fair, I have never had God visit ME, open the conversation with a normal social greeting, and He and I just dive right into a conversation.  Things have occurred to me, seemingly random, but clearly from the Spirit of my Master.  That's not the same thing.  I believe God has spoken to me, given me insight, and even spoken through me in Bible studies and sermons.  Those are not the same thing. 

Maybe my problem is that they should be, but to me, they are not the same.  My experiences in prayer, study, and speaking do not replicate the pattern I see in Genesis 15:1; they just don't.  I don't want to hear or make excuses for this.  I don't want to lower my desire, using the excuse that God doesn't work this way any more.  I have heard that since we have the Scripture He speaks through that.  I have heard that with His Spirit within us, He speaks through the promptings of the Spirit instead of like here in Genesis.  No!  I want this level of intimacy!  I want it! 

I want to know and be so close to God that no one can see me, talk to me, or even think of me without also seeing my Master, including Him in the conversation (or feel like they're interrupting), and thinking of my Master too.  I want to talk to Him like I speak with my wife, be as close or closer with Him than I am with my wife.  I can't jettison this desire because I've put my Master in a "new box" that doesn't include such things.  That's not acceptable to me.  I want the handshake-shoulder-touch-man-hug with my Master, Maker of all space, time, the earth, all matter, stars, and sub-atomic particles.  Is that too much to ask?

The Righteous Request for Proof?

Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.  And He said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it."  He said, "O Lord GOD, how may I know that I will possess it?"  So He said to him, "Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon."  Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds.  The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.  Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him.  God said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.  "But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.  "As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.  "Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete."  It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces.  On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: (Genesis 15:6-18)

Abram has just had his belief credited to him as righteousness by the Creator of the heavens and the earth.  The statements of God continue, and Abram asks, "How may I know that I will possess it?"  How may I know?  Show me a sign.  Prove it.  Things I would consider gutsy to ask of God.  Abram's just been credited with righteousness for belief, so did he just use up his credit?


It seems that God doesn't have a problem with the question, and proceeds to provide the proof.  It is an odd way to do it for our culture, but essentially what God does is bind Himself in a Suzerain Treaty.  What He has said with the divided carcasses is that, "If I don't make good on my promise, may this happen to Me."  God would be destroyed, laid in half, before He would break this promise.


But when I consider the One making this promise and binding Himself to it in such a dramatic fashion, I understand better the sense of verse 12, "Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him."  God had arrived.  The One forming stars and laying out the patterns for quarks shows up.  Unimaginable awesome and utterly destructive Presence emerges into His creation, clothed in darkness to preserve His servant, but the terror remains.


This was not some earthly king laying out victims of his latest battle for those who remain to walk between; binding them to a covenant of servitude.  This is the King of Kings moving between the victims.  The smoking oven and flaming torch passing between the divide carcasses seems to bind Him to Abram, as if Abram is the king, and God serves Abram.  


How does my "theology of God" incorporate this concept?  How does this not threaten or negate the "Sovereignty of God"?  How is it that the Maker of all Matter will bind Himself to one of His human creatures in such a fashion and not give up His status and place as Ruler of all?  Who is this Abram that he should witness such a thing, preserve such a story?  And why would it be recorded, inspired by the One binding Himself?  This is something that the King of Kings wants me to know about Him.


One reconciliation that I can make between this event and the Sovereignty of God is that the King of Kings binds Himself to His promise rather than Abram.  Yet, the form of this event matches the form of such treaties among men, and that is not the case for them.  Did Abram understand this as his God binding Himself to a promise or to Abram?


I believe God bound Himself to the promise, and that Abram understood this.  Here's why: After this, Abram continues to submit himself to his God as Lord.  He doesn't change his view and understand God as submitting to him.  Secondly, Abram asked how he would know the promise would be fulfilled, and this is the answer God provides.  The connection would make sense to him as an answer to his question.


So why does my Master want me to know this about Himself?  Does He still do this?  Does He still bind Himself to His promises?  From this account, and others, I believe that the King of Kings, my Master, still considers Himself bound to His promises.  I believe that my Master would cease to exist  before He would break a promise.  I can be more sure of Him and His promises than of the sunrise, even the one I witness now.  Though I can see His creation, He is more sure and trustworthy than what I see.  I believe.  Perhaps that will be credited to my account like Abram's.

An Astronomical Perspective

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."  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."  Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:4-6 NASB)

Abram has just beaten the four kings of the east and partied with the priest-king of God Most High, what are you going to do now?  Well, it's time for a heart-to-heart with his God.  What has been bothering Abram about the promise God has made to him comes to the surface.  He gives voice to his fears.  But it is God who starts the conversation.  He begins with the statement that He is Abram's shield and protection.  Abram responds with, "Show me the kid!"

The problem with Abram's situation is that, while he has been promised that the land will be possessed by his descendants, he doesn't have one child.  It's an obvious problem.  And it's one that makes this promise difficult to discuss with anyone.  The first thing they do is look around Abram for a little boy, an obvious dilemma to receiving such a promise.

God has told Abram that his descendants will be like the dust, and that was nice.  But now He brings Abram outside his tent and has him look at the stars.  In that day, there were no lights except the lights of the heavens, and they shone through air far less dusty.  The Milkyway is huge and bright, the colors of the stars distinct, and the patterns easy to make out.  The stars shine back down on Abram, declaring the glory of God, they form an accounting of the work of His hands (Psalm 19:1).  "Count them," says God.  For in counting them is the futility of what Abram can do, and in what is being counted is the awesome power of what God can do.

Sure there are a lot of them, but counting means really paying attention to them.  The glory of the One making the Heavens and the Earth resonates all through this immense sea of lights.  They sparkle ever so slightly as the tiny debris of space and atmosphere blow by.  Count them.  It's not possible, but it is a worthy effort.  Counting stars is an act of worship for Abram.  He believes, and this belief goes on his account as righteousness.  The promise of descendants to a old man without children is made by the One forming stars.  If this One can do that, form hydrogen into flaming orbs of unapproachable light, perhaps He can be relied on to provide a child to the guy standing outside his tent holding his AARP card.