Number the Stars

Week 5:

Genesis 15:1-6

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: "Fear not, Abram, I am you 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, "Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir. "  And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: "This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir."  And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them."  Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."  And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Genesis 17:1-8

When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly."  Then Abram fell on his face.  And God said to him, "Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.  no longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.  I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.  And I will establish my covenant between you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.  And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God."

I believe this is the season where God is fulfilling His promises like He did to Abraham.  It's the season where we move from glory to glory.  The name Abram means "exalted father" and the name Abraham means father of nations.  God was taking Abraham from glory to glory.  We're coming into a season where the things that satisfied our longings will become unsatisfactory, and we begin to feel a hunger for something bigger, where our only hunger is for Him.  I'm already feeling like where I'm at is not enough and I need to go deeper. His love is calling me deeper.  

He's asking us to "number the stars".  Count them.  Count your dreams, your goals, your desires, the words God has spoken to you, and the promises He has given you.  Count them...and He will multiply them.  When you thing you've counted them all, there's more.  He's calling us to a deeper level.  Think of the stars...there's only a certain depth or layer of the sky that we can actually see.  But hundreds of millions of miles closer there is a whole new layer of galaxies full of unseen stars.  

He's calling us deeper.  

Remember the promises He's given you.  As Abram "believed the Lord, and counted it to him as righteousness," we too can believe in His word as it brings us to right standing with God.  As we choose faith in a word, we are realigning our focus and understanding of God's goodness and because of that we are set in "right standing" or "righteousness" with God.  It's also interesting that in the second passage after God changes Abram's name to Abraham, He said "I have made you the father of a multitude of nations"...not "I will make"...but "I have made".  His word is life!  It's amazing what believing in the goodness of God can do.  So number the stars.  Count His promises.  Count the things He's already done in your life.  It's the year of favor and blessing and we've only scratched the surface.  We're just about to embark on an exciting adventure where God is going to BLOW our expectations!