On this second Sunday in Lent, we’re exploring what it means to have faith through the lens of Abram’s story in Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18. Abraham is one of the greatest examples of faith in the Bible, but in this story, even he wrestles with doubt and questions—what an encouragement for us!
In working on this sermon, I found very helpful Daniel M. Debevoise’s Pastoral Perspective column in Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 2, as well as Courtney Allen Crump’s sermon on this text.
The cover art is Abraham’s Journey from Ur to Canaan, by József Molnár, 1850, found here on Wiki Commons.
I want to use this story from Genesis about Abram to explore with you today what it means to have faith. Maybe you’ve heard me say before: At its most basic level, faith means trust. To have faith means to act trusting God, to believe what God says.
It’s not one of our readings today, but Hebrews chapter 11 is a sort of faith hall of fame. It includes people like Noah, who built the ark to save humanity; and Moses, who led God’s people out of slavery; Rahab, who welcomed the Israelite spies; people like David, Samson, and Samuel.
But in this hall of fame, the Biblical hero of faith the writer of Hebrews spends the most time on is Abraham. Listen to Hebrews 11, verses 8-10.
“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”
At the beginning of Abraham’s story, he’s a herdsman living with his wife Sarai and nephew Lot and some other relatives in a land called Haran. Oh, and also his name is Abram, not yet Abraham—that comes later in the story.
Suddenly, pretty much out of the blue, when Abram is 75 years old, God shows up and says to him, “Follow me. Literally, come and follow me on a journey. Get up, leave your country, leave your family’s land behind, and follow me, and I will bless you and make your name great.”
And Abram listens. He takes his wife and his nephew and his whole household, and they pack up and leave to go where God tells him to go. What an incredible example of faith, trusting in God’s promise!
As the story goes, they get sidetracked a bit in Egypt, and the Pharaoh—the ruler of Egypt—really likes Abram’s wife Sarai, so Abram pretends she’s actually his sister, because he’s afraid the Pharaoh will want to get him out of the way so he can have Sarai, and then when God sends some plagues to punish Pharaoh for having another man’s wife, Pharaoh gets upset and kicks them out of Egypt.
But once they leave Egypt, they keep traveling, following where God leads, for years and years. Every few years, God reminds Abram about the promise to bless him. In Canaan, God says, “Look at all this land. It’s all going to belong to your offspring, who will be as numerous as the dust fo the earth.”
Today’s reading from Genesis 15 is one of those reminders. Once again, the word of the Lord comes to Abram in a vision, but this time, Abram has some questions.
He’s been a great example of faith so far, right? He’s followed God for years, waiting for God to fulfill God’s promise. There was the awkward incident in Egypt where he tried to take things into his own hands, but other than that, he’s been very faithful. For years. And years. And remember, he wasn’t exactly young when God first called him.
So now, when once again God says, “I’m going to bless you,” Abram objects.
He points out, “Um, God. Thanks for the promise, but I have no children. And my wife and I are both getting really old. I know you’re God, and I want to trust you but I’m just not seeing how I’m going to have numerous descendants if I die without any kids. Right now, the heir to my property is Eliezer of Damascus, my slave.”
Abram’s questions are reasonable, right? And I don’t know about you, but I really appreciate that he has questions, and he’s not afraid to ask them.
As commentator Daniel Debevoise says, “We might breathe a sigh of relief at this revelation. Abram, the great model of faithfulness, is also a person who wants to know how God is going to fulfill God’s promises. Abram looks at his life and says, ‘It is unclear to me, God, how you are going to work things out. There are some pretty big obstacles in the way. I’d like to have just a little bit more information.”
I appreciate this story because I’ve got questions too. I talked last week about paradoxes of faith, like that we believe in a God who is in charge, reigning over the world, able to act in people’s lives and in history; and yet this world is clearly broken. There are millions, maybe billions of people around the world praying for peace, and yet every day the war in Ukraine seems to be getting worse, with more people, innocent people, even kids, suffering and dying.
We’ve had two funerals in our congregation in the last 8 days, both women who dealt with far more than their fair share of health problems, who were 71 and 69—not very old!
I could come up with more examples, but the point is, I have some questions for the God whose kingdom is coming, the God whose Holy Spirit we believe is at work right now in and through us, who’s on the move in this world. And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one with questions.
Let me be clear: I don’t have answers to these questions, at least not ones that will satisfy skeptics. I can talk about how even though Paul in our Philippians reading says our citizenship is in heaven we live in a fallen creation, and we’re in a liminal space where death has been defeated by the resurrection and yet God’s victory is not yet fulfilled.
I can talk about how the brokenness and the suffering in this world are the result of sin and part of living in a fallen world and how God is present with us in the suffering, as revealed by Jesus’ own suffering on the cross. I can even talk about how the Holy Spirit is working through the Body of Christ, the church, and through the gifts we give to help our neighbors fleeing the violence in Ukraine.
And I believe all that. And it’s as good of answers as I expect to get in this life, or at least until Jesus comes back in glory. I can live with the questions. In fact, part of faith is living with the questions. If we had all the answers, it wouldn’t be faith, right? That same faith hall of fame chapter of Hebrews that lifts up Abraham begins with the words, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
I appreciate this story because even this central character in God’s plan, this character whom the Bible holds up as a great example of faith, even he has questions. And he brings those questions to God, and look how God responds.
God repeats the promise once again, bringing Abram outside and saying, see how many stars there are? When you count them you’ll know how many descendants you’ll have. And Abram believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
And then two verses later, he asks God again for some proof, which leads to one of the strangest miracles in all of Scripture. God tells Abram to sacrifice some animals, which Abram does. Then he cuts them into two halves and lays the halves out on the ground. Notice, by the way, he’s going beyond the directions God gave.
It seems really odd, but this was the custom at the time in the culture for making solemn agreements. The two parties to a covenant or contract would sacrifice animals, lay out the halves, then walk from opposite ends between the halves. The idea is that if they fail to keep the covenant they’re making, they should be cut in half like the animals. I like our method of shaking hands and signing on the dotted line much better.
Anyway, I’m not sure if this ritual is exactly what God intended to do, but it’s a language Abram understands. It’s the proof Abram needs.
Verse 17: “When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pit and a flaming torch passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram.”
Notice that God is the only one who passes through the animals. It’s a one-sided covenant. God is going to bless Abram, regardless of his doubts. All Abram is called to do—all Abram can do—is to trust. That’s faith.
Does Abram know how this is going to work? No, he still doesn’t understand. Over the next several chapters of Genesis, God will repeat the promise several times, and just when you think Abram understands and believes, he’ll take things into his own hands and try to get descendants by going in to Hagar, his wife’s slave girl.
Not until he’s 100 years old will Abraham finally get his own legitimate son, Isaac.
But at the end of the story, we see: God is trustworthy. Even when Abram’s faith falters, even when Abram has doubts and questions and messes things up by trying to take things into his own hands, God is faithful. God keeps God’s promises. God is worthy of our trust, and God can handle our questions.
As we continue in this season of Lent journeying with Jesus to the cross, may you know and trust God’s promise of love for you.
May God give you the signs you need, the nudges and reminders from the Holy Spirit, not to answer all your questions, but to stir up faith in you.
May God be patient with us as we like Abraham wrestle with faith and questions.
And may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus now and forever. Amen