2/17/08 - Lent 2 - Genesis 12:1-8

APPRECIATE HIS PROMISES
- They are facts about your future
- They should be constantly on your mind

You can find thanksgiving everywhere in Scripture. If you read through the book of Psalms you’ll find hundreds and hundreds of verses that praise the Lord for what he has done. The Old Testament Israelites and their leaders often broke out in songs of thanks for the guidance and protection the Lord had shown them. The letters of the New Testament by Paul and Peter and John exude with thanksgiving for what God has accomplished for all people. And so it is not surprise when we come across a sermon text that describes a Christian thanking the Lord. But as we look closely at this particular portion of Scripture today, Genesis 12:1-8, we see that Abraham shows his thanks to the Lord in a little different way then we normally do. Yes, he built an altar to the Lord, but that’s not unique to Abraham - that is just one of the ways believers thanked the Lord back then. Abraham’s thanks is unique in a different way. Allow me to read again a couple of these verses and listen closely to the way Abraham’s thanks differs from ours.
“Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. The Canaanites were then in the land, but the LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.” Did you catch how Abraham’s thanks is a little different? Usually, we thank the Lord for what he has done. Here, Abraham thanks the Lord before he does it. He thanks the Lord not for what has happened, but for what he has said. He shows his appreciation for the Lord’s promises beforehand, long before God accomplished what he said he would do. In fact, it would be hundreds of years before this promise was fulfilled. And Abraham didn’t even have a son yet! It would be another 25 years before he was blessed with an offspring to carry on his name. The Lord had yet to do anything pertaining to the promise he had just given to Abraham. And yet Abraham immediately built an altar there to the Lord. Thanking him. Trusting him. Showing his appreciation for the Lord’s promises. Because Abraham knew the Lord’s promises were not probabilities or hopes or optimistic goals, he knew that the Lord’s promises were facts about his future.
The Lord’s promises are facts about your future. That’s different than the promises we make, isn’t it? When we make a promise, that means we do whatever we can to make that promise happen. And many times those promises are carried out. But not always. And so the promises that we are used to in this life are more like possible outcomes that we think we have a pretty good chance of accomplishing in the near future. How different are the promises of the Lord! His promises are not things that he will try to do, they are things that he will do. He looks into the future, sees exactly what he will do, when he will do it, and how he will do it - and then tells us: “This is a fact. It is unchangeable. It is as good as done. In fact, it’s as if it has already happened. You can be that sure of this promise I am now giving you.” No wonder Abraham built that altar to the Lord immediately following his Savior’s words. Abraham fully trusted that although he did not yet have children, and although he and Sarah were already well along in years, and although his wife was barren, and although Canaanites filled the land his descendants were supposed to receive… he still trusted that the Lord’s promise was a fact. He trusted that the Lord’s promise was irrevocable. And Abraham showed his unwavering hope and his humble appreciation for that promise by building his Lord an altar right there on the spot.
I don’t think I would have built that altar. Considering the way I have lived my life so far, I don’t think I would have wholeheartedly thanked the Lord for his promise as Abraham did. And don’t get me wrong: I thank the Lord for many things. I thank him for coming to this earth, living a perfect life in my place, dying on the cross for my sins, rising from the tomb; I thank him for his protection, his love, his guidance, his justice, his mercy… I thank the Lord for all those things and I know that you thank him for those things too - not only here in church but in your prayers and in your daily lives. But that’s the easy part! It’s easy to thank the Lord for what he has already given us! It’s natural to thank the Lord when we can see the results! But how often do you really thank the Lord just for his promises - long before you ever see the blessings that come from them?
I was traveling to Gunnison on Tuesday as I do twice a month, to visit with the college students over there. On my way home, around a curve, I zipped past a deer standing on the shoulder of the road. And since it was dark out and right off a curve in the road, I didn’t even have a chance to step on the break before I passed it. And when that happens your heart beats a little faster and I immediately began to say, “Oh Lord, please keep me safe on this road. Please be with me as I finish this drive back.” But then this sermon text hit me. I had already done some work on it and knew what I was going to talk about today. And I thought: why am I asking but not also thanking him? Why shouldn’t I be saying with the psalmist: “The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid… The LORD is with me; he is my helper” (Psalm 118:6,7)? Because that is what the Lord has promised me. He says he will be by my side. He says he will protect me. And he says that even if he does allow me to hit a deer or slide off the road or whatever may happen, he still promises to turn even that situation out for my good. And so on that road coming back from Gunnison, I thanked the Lord for the rest of my trip back before I knew how it was going to turn out. And that was one of the few times I’ve sincerely thanked the Lord for his promises before I ever saw the results.
How often do you thank the Lord before you see the results? Next time you’re lying in your bed sick as a dog, whether it be from a surgery or a disease or the flu, will you thank the Lord for his promise of love and care while you’re still in bed, while you’re still lying there staring at the ceiling? After all, he has promised you, “I will be with you; I will never leave you or forsake you” (Joshua 1:5). Will you thank him for that fact about your future, or will you thank your Lord only after you get well?
Next time you pray for a loved one, one who is struggling with their faith or their life, will you thank the Lord before you see how it all ends for that person? Because the Scripture does say, “A man’s ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all his paths” (Proverbs 5:21). Will you thank him for knowing and controlling everything that will happen, or will you only thank him when things turn out well?
We are Christians, but weak ones at best. We rely far too much on the visible results instead of the Lord’s clear promises. It usually doesn’t even cross our minds to thank the Lord for something we have yet to receive - why would we do such a thing? Thanks is in response to what we receive, it doesn’t come before! But the things is: you have received something. You have received a promise: a fact about your future from the Lord himself. Appreciate that promise. Thank him for that promise. Because in reality, there are times when you will never see the result. Abraham never did! He never saw his descendants possess the Promised Land. And neither did his son Isaac or Jacob or Joseph. But all of them thanked the Lord for precisely that as if they saw their descendants enjoying that land with their own eyes. I feel ashamed when I read about the faith of Abraham. I feel inadequate when I realize the lack of trust I have put in the Lord’s words. I know I do not rely on his promises as unwaveringly as I should. And I have asked the Lord forgiveness for that.
But that’s yet another wonderful promise from the Lord. He promises that although none of us trust him as we ought, he will forgive every one of those future sins. He will still love us, he will still come back on the Last Day, and he will still bring us to Paradise to live with him forever. We have not seen any of those things. The fulfillment of those promises may even be thousands of years away, but we can and should still thank him for that. We should appreciate those promises just like Abraham did. And just like that Old Testament hero of faith, we should have the Lord’s promises always on our minds.
Notice what Abraham did after he built that altar. “From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.” After Abraham left Shechem he went to Bethel, and there he built another altar to the Lord - less than 20 miles away! The Lord didn’t appear to him again near Bethel. The Lord didn’t repeat his promises there or give Abraham other blessings at that juncture of the trip. Abraham just built another altar to the Lord because he wanted to thank him again for what the Lord had told him. And it’s important to keep in mind that Abraham was traveling through a foreign country he had never been to before. He was with his wife, his nephew, and all that he owned. It wasn’t really convenient for him to stop and build another altar in the middle of a strange place, among potentially hostile people. And there were no McDonald’s around where they could grab a quick bite to eat. They didn’t have any relatives there with whom they could stay. But Abraham took time to build an altar anyway - so he either had to cut down some wood or gather some large stones when he easily could have been using that time to find food or set up a shelter for his household and his aging wife. But worshiping and thanking the Lord was that important to him. Showing his appreciation for the Lord’s promises was that high on his list. It was always on his mind. And think what impression that gave to his nephew Lot and his wife Sarah and anyone else that may have witnessed this incredible act of faith.
It would be a good thing to have the Lord’s promises always on your mind as well. Because if you have heaven, eternity, future forgiveness for all your sins, lasting protection, and the Lord’s never failing strength on your mind at all times, think of what effect that would have on your life and your conversations and your actions! Your life would be filled with joy! You would find it impossible to be heartbroken or upset or worried because you would have those sure promises of the Lord securely sealed to your heart! People would see that! They would realize that there is something far more important to you than a house, or clothes, or vehicles, or money, or even family. If your focus is always on the future riches of God’s promises, Satan would be furious, the angels would rejoice, and the Lord would look on you and smile. Because that is exactly what your Lord wants. He wants you to base everything you think, say, and do on his promises. That’s why he has given them to you in his Word. And that is why they are so clear and simple. Appreciate his promises. And constantly thank him for what he will give you in the future - because in reality, those blessings are already yours.
Amen.

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.” - Psalm 41:13