Caryn Rivadeneira  00:09

Welcome to Elmhurst CRC's daily dose of the Word of God. It's Wednesday, March 9, in the first full week of Lent, and Sunday's Comin'. This is Caryn Rivadeneira. And I'll be reading Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18. "After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:  “Do not be afraid, Abram.  I am your shield, your very great reward.”  2 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit[c] my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”  4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring[d] be.”  6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.  7 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.”  8 But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”  9 So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”  10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.  12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi[a] of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—"

 Caryn Rivadeneira  02:08

This passage is full of all the things that make a great Bible story, covenants, mysteries and ancient rituals, complete with pesky birds of prey and floating fire pots. And of course, we have a righteous hero and a faithful God. And like all great Bible stories after reading this passage, we're left wondering about a million things. Strangely, I'm mostly okay with waiting till heaven to find out how the floating firepot went down. But there's one thing I can't stop wondering about. Abrams dreadful darkness. The New Revised Standard Version calls it "a deep and terrifying darkness that fell over Abram." Whether dreadful, or deep and terrifying. I love that the author of Genesis included this detail, because of all the mysteriousness and other worldliness in this passage, and of all the righteousness and heroism of Abraham. This detail reminds us that Abraham was very, very human, enough to feel terror and dread even about what God was calling him to do. I feel bad as I imagined Abram suffering during his dreadful darkness. And yet, I'm comforted knowing that Abraham this righteous man whom God chose to start a nation of God's people, said yes to God with trembling hands a quaking spirit, under the weight of a dreadful darkness. So often we feel or we wait till we have feel peace, about a decision to say yes to God. We wait until all our ducks are in a row, till there's plenty of money in the bank to fall back on till everything is square and comfy, cozy. Passages like this remind us that that isn't how God works. That isn't how calling works. That isn't how faith works. Abram follow God despite his deep and terrifying darkness. I'm wondering if I'm willing to do the same. How about you?