‘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 15 v 3
Do you know that God wants to continually fill your mind with great pictures about your future? At times when you struggle to see what good could be coming up ahead he is encouraging you to imagine a life without limits! He wants you to lift your eyes from the physical, natural realm, with all that is tangible, and he calls you to enter into His realm of the spirit where life itself is formed and spoken into being. You are probably familiar with the story of Abraham. He had received an incredible promise from the Lord concerning his future, his destiny and his legacy. “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing”! Genesis 12 . What a word! How awesome to receive such a great prophecy over your life! And yet we see how Abraham wrestles with this as circumstances fail to line up with what he had heard. Do you have these same difficulties? Are there times when you believe you have heard from the Lord only to find that your reality is not matching up with the picture you believe the Lord has given you?
By chapter 15 as time has moved on and everything stays the same we see Abraham creating his own version of his destiny : Lord you have given me no children so a servant must be my heir. Abraham doubts again that the Lord’s promise will come true so the Lord decides to give him a picture to meditate on. He tells him to count the stars. Now, there are two interpretations of this passage. The first is the most obvious, literally count the stars!, one by one! I don’t know if you have ever tried it but it is an impossible task, which is precisely why the Lord instructs him in this way. He is making it clear that the Lord would bless him with a family that would be beyond anything he could imagine.
A second interpretation of this verse believes this was not the Lord simply saying look how vast the stars are but, recount the story of the stars. See how they depict the gospel. In Bible times the Hebrew word for the 12 Zodiac constellations was called the “ Mazzaroth”, as mentioned in Job 38: 31-32. So when Abraham went out at night and looked at the sky what could he see? Virgo, the virgin through whom the Messiah would come, Libra a pair of scales, the picture of justice and righteousness, below the scales is a cluster of stars which form the picture of a slain animal, representing Jesus the lamb of God. Next to the lamb is the cluster of stars called the Southern cross. The scales of justice are balanced through Jesus on the cross. Then we find Scorpio, the man holding a snake and stepping on a scorpion and at the end of the constellation we find Leo, Jesus himself “ The Lion of Judah” who reigns forever! When Abraham looked at the stars they pointed to how a saviour would come and deliver the people and how through Abrahams’ seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed.
The Lord took what Abraham looked at everyday and got him to see it differently. The world that is before his eyes suddenly takes on new meaning as the Lord unveils his purpose and gives Abraham a new picture to meditate on. How many times is the Lord calling us to see situations and circumstances from a different perspective? How many times do we think nothing is happening or our minds can only see roadblocks and yet the Lord wants to show you beauty, destiny, purpose in it all. Do you need to lift your head up today? Ask the Lord to show you things from his vantage point and discover all that He has in store for you?
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Unshakeable Hope Series – Exchange Church Belfast 2021