Genesis 15: Nothing But Questions

 But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus? ” 
And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” 
Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir. ” 
He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars —if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
He also said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”
But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?” - Gen. 15:2-8 NIV

The ancients, the patriarchs like Abram, were no different from us.  Even those who were considered to be righteous still had their questions.  'What can you give me?' Abram asked.  Was he saying he had enough, that God's presence in his life was enough, or was he saying, that he would not be content until he received the one thing that he was missing, the thing that he longed for the most? I like to think that it was the former, that Abram was content with anything that the Lord would give him, that he totally trusted God.  His next question doesn't seem to imply that he had any doubt in God, but doubt in his own ability to believe that every thing God promised was all going to come about.

So it is with all of us with faith.....at times, we are content with whatever God gives us.  In fact, we may be content just to be in his presence.  Then there are the times when we do not see how any of  our longings can or will be accomplished in our lives.  We begin to think that God's promises apply to others, perhaps, but not to us.  Perhaps our questions should be like those of Abraham, not,  "What can you give me?, but, 'How can I know?'  How can we know that God's promises are true as the Apostle Paul claimed?  For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. - 2 Cor. 1:20 KJV  Perhaps we don't need the circmstances to change as much as we need our attitude to change.