One of the hardest things for a Christian who goes off to college is entering a culture where it is cool to be a skeptic, sophisticated to question the faith you were taught growing up, and innocent, naïve, and sometimes stupid to believe.  It is fashionable to doubt, to question authority, including the truth of the Bible, the existence of God, and the truth of your parents’ religion.  Doubt is in, and belief is out.  And for many this is in sharp contrast from their churches, where belief is in, and doubt is definitely out.  In many churches, belief is admired, no matter what the obstacles, no matter what your brain might tell you, culture might tell you, or science might tell you – just believe.  But don’t you dare doubt, or question, things that the church teaches you.  In many churches, belief is in, and doubt is out.

But for those of us who have been around God long enough, it’s impossible not to have doubts, not to have questions.  There are many things we might doubt or question about God and the faith – is the Bible really God’s words?  Even where it seems contradictory, or against what science tells me?  Is the way of life laid out in the Bible really going to be life to the full?  Better than what the world tells me?  We know that often the church isn’t great at handling our doubts, our questions.  But what about God?  Can he handle our doubts?  How does he deal with them?  Today we’re going to continue looking at the life of Abram, by looking at his interaction with God in chapter 15, where God deals with Abram’s doubts about the adventure to which God has called him. 

We’ve been talking this last month about the adventure of faith, the fact that the life of those who follow Jesus is supposed to be an adventure, full of ups and downs, twists and turns, fears and doubts, times you want to give up and times it looks like there is no hope, but that in the end you are changed for the better because of the adventure.  Last week we looked at how Abram put his relationship with Lot above wealth, asserting his authority, and being right, and we learned how God’s priority is peace and unity among his children.  That’s more important to him than being right all the time.  In chapter 14, we find that it’s a good thing Abram put the relationship first, because Lot is captured and carried off when his city gets in a battle with some enemies, and Abram has to come to his rescue.  We see that there are more than enough enemies out there – it’s important that we keep unity in the body.

Now we pick up the adventure in Genesis 15.

Genesis 15 -  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, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit 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 coming from your own body will be your heir."  ⁵ 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."  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, "O 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.  ¹³ Then the LORD said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.  ¹⁴ But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.  ¹⁵ You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age.  ¹⁶ In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."  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 river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates--  ¹⁹ the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,  ²⁰ Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,  ²¹ Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites."