Reading: Genesis 15:1-6
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness. Reflection Having now seen the images from the James Webb Telescope which revealed even more galaxies and stars than ever before, to me this passage now takes even more meaning than ever before. God instructs Abram, “Look toward the heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Abram couldn’t. The stars that can be seen with the naked eye are countless. Now with telescopes, we realize there are even more that we can’t see. Which now makes me look back to what God said - “Count the stars.” Obviously, Abram took that as the stars he could see. Perhaps in the back of God’s mind was the thought, “And, by the way Abram, there are stars out there you can’t even see.” Abram believed the Lord (that Abram’s descendants would be as many as the stars) and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Abram believed a count beyond what he could count not even knowing it was beyond his even being able to see all there was to count. We say things like “Count your blessings,” or “I’m counting my blessings.” We name them one by one; but what if we also realized there are blessings we don’t or aren’t even able to see. Beyond count. Believe that. --Ruth Gates Prayer Dear God, we see your love as we can but there is always more. Help us believe. Amen.
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