3/13/25 Daily Lenten Devotional

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

¹After 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.” ²But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” ⁴But 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.” ⁵He 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.” ⁶And he believed the Lord, and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness. ⁷Then he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.” ⁸But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” ⁹He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other, but he did not cut the birds in two. ¹¹And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. ¹²As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him. ¹⁷When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. ¹⁸On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates.

Theologian Tim Keller asserted that Jesus is found in every book of the Bible. In Genesis 15:1,4, the pre-incarnate Christ appeared to Abram as “the word of the Lord.” This is affirmed in John 1:1-2, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” Abram was around 85 years old, anxious because he had no heirs. The Lord told him his descendants would be as countless as the stars, and reminded Abram that he was speaking to God who brought him from Ur of the Chaldeans to possess Canaan. Abram believed, but expressed doubt, so the Lord cut a blood covenant with him. God commanded Abram to bring prime animals, not for sacrifice, but for a covenant ritual. Abram cut them in two, except for the birds, and lined the pieces up, leaving a path between them. (The parties of a covenant would walk down the aisle lined with the animal pieces to ratify it, meaning, “May it be so done to me if I don’t keep my oath and pledge.”) Abram fell asleep. While he was sleeping, a smoking firepot and a blazing torch (evidence of God’s presence) passed between the pieces of the animals. God was faithful to His promises and obligated to fulfill them without any pledge from Abram. Similarly, Jesus alone paid the price for our sins. Prayer: Lord God, we know you are faithful to your promises. Even though we may be afraid, have doubts and ask questions, you credit our faith as righteousness and erase our sins. Thank you for Jesus, our shield and our Savior. Amen —Anita Platt