Seeing with Different Eyes - Genesis 15:1-6

ãCopyright March 17, 2019 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche

I am reaching that stage in my life where visits to Doctors are more interesting. When I go to the Optometrist’s office and he asks me to read the clearest line on the chart, I am finding those lines have fewer and fewer letters on them. I know that I will inevitably need a new prescription for my contacts. But that is OK. I am also finding that it appears labels, directions, and textbooks, must be using smaller and smaller type. I need these prescriptions to be able to read correctly. There are some instructions you don’t want to guess at.

This morning we are going to learn about the importance of seeing life through the prescription of faith. And we will do that by looking at the first part of Genesis 15.

Some time later, the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.”

2But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son? Since you’ve given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth. 3You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.”

4Then the Lord said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.” 5Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”

6And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.

The Lord spoke to Abraham in a vision sometimes after his encounter with the Kings of Sodom and Salem. God told Abraham he did not need to be afraid. The most frequent command Jesus gave to His disciples was "Fear Not."

It is scary to trust God. It is scary because it means letting go of control and resting in and trusting His control of things. This is why we are told fear and worry are indicators we do not trust God. Let that sink in. If you are afraid, or filled with worry, it means you do not really believe God is able to care for you.

What was it that was making Abraham afraid? Was he concerned about retaliation from the nation he had defeated? Was he getting impatient because he still had no land to call his own?.

If I can conjecture and paraphrase, I think Abraham was saying, my fear is that I have come all this way only to make my servant rich! Abraham is getting older. It seems the biological clock inside of Sarah has timed out. Abraham looked at his circumstances and was fearful God's promise had somehow failed.

Abraham appears a little indignant. "YOU'VE given me no children" and YOU'VE given me no descendants." You almost feel like he might have been pointing his finger up to Heaven.

Yet, God is not angry, but so wonderfully patient with Abraham’s question. He reiterated that He had not forgotten what He said, or what He meant to Abraham. He said his covenant was with Abraham and not the descendants of his servant. Abraham was going to have an actual heir who would eventually lead to the fulfillment of all of these promises. And then to emphasize the point, he took him outside, pointed to the sky and said, "See these stars? You will have more descendants than there are stars in the sky." Isn't God so marvelously faithful in all he does?

Then we read these simple and profound words, "And Abraham believed God and it was credited to Him as righteousness."

This one verse is quoted several times in the new Testament. Paul referred to it in Romans 4:3 and reflected on it for most of the rest of that chapter. Paul also referred to it in Galatians 3:6, and this is also quoted in James 2:23. Paul used the verse to show that we are not saved by keeping the Law (because Abraham was declared righteous before the Law ever came into being,) but by faith. James pointed to Abraham to show genuine faith must have an active or practical component. These two viewpoints do not contradict each other! They complete each other.

The True Nature of Faith

We are told Abraham believed God . . . Notice it does not say Abraham believed IN God. We live in a world where lots of people tell you they believe in God. James tells us "even the demons believe in God " . . . and they have the good sense to tremble. However, the "god" these people believe in can be very different from the God of the Bible. Often that god seems to be very much like they are! They believe in a god who wants them to do what they want to do. The true God loves us, but has some definite standards of what is right and wrong.

Faith is believing what God says about Himself and believing what He tells us is the truth. Listen to how Paul describes this scene from Genesis,

18Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!” 19And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb.

20Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. 21He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. 22And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous. (Romans 4:18-22)

Do you see what is happening here? Abraham had a choice: He could believe what His eyes were telling him was true, OR he could believe what God was telling him.

Abraham knew, based on all the experience he had in the world, that Sarah was not going to have any children. She had not conceived and now she was too old. Today we would say she had gone through menopause.

What God promised was the complete opposite of what Abraham could see with his eyes. Yet, Abraham trusted what he knew about God more than what he had learned in health class. He knew God could do what God had promised and relied on the promise rather than his experience.

Genuine faith is believing God. Maybe that is something you need to grapple with today. Perhaps from the way things appear,

Your business is going under

Your marriage will not survive

You will never find someone who will love you for who you are

You will never get your life in order

You will never get your bills paid

Your family will never reconcile with you

God will never accept you

A family member you love will never come to believe

But God says we should not be afraid. Instead of looking at ourselves (like we normally do) we need to look at God. He is the One who can do beyond all we can hope or imagine. God's promises to us can be counted on.

He promises to receive all those who truly trust in Him

He promises to forgive those who admit their sin

He promises to meet our genuine needs

He promises to walk with us through even the darkest night

He promises to bring reconciliation into our hearts and lives

He promises to bring good things out of evil

For those who believe, who trust, who take Him at His Word . . . God proves Himself faithful. The broken are made whole, the lost are found, the weak find themselves able to do what they never thought possible, and somehow God even brings some good out of the worst of circumstances.

Every day we are faced with a choice: Do we trust the voices in our head, or do we trust the Word of God?

Seeing With the Eyes of Faith

What is necessary is for us to learn to see in a new way. How do we see with spiritual eyes or the eyes of faith? This is not as easy as it may sound. Everyone is trying to get us to think the way they want us to think.

There was a day when the phrase "subliminal seduction" was popular. One of the places where this was exposed was in movie theaters. They would put just a couple of frames of popcorn or soda into a preview. The image was so fast we were not even conscious of it. But our brain saw it. That triggered a desire for popcorn and a soda.

I'm pretty sure they don't do that anymore because now they don't bother to disguise what they are doing. They put the popcorn right on the screen and you hear the fizzle of soda in Surround Sound. There is nothing hidden. They have become blatant in trying to manipulate your mind. It is not called subliminal seduction any more, it is called big-time advertising. This is why pretty models are used to sell trucks to men. It is why drugs are advertised on TV. Drug makers know if they can get someone to think a certain drug may help them, they will go to their doctor and request it! Everyone is trying to mold our thinking.

We are the richest people in the world and probably feel the most deprived because we can't have the toys that others do! We measure ourselves by the clamor of the crowd. If you were a toy-maker, you would work hard to push your product in the hope of seeing it become "the toy" that every parent will stand in line for at Christmas because their children "must have it" or they will consider themselves a failure as a parent! It's all marketing.

As a result of our gullibility, we believe the people who tell us we are worthless, unattractive, and unsuccessful. We believe our lives will be less fulfilled if we aren't driving, drinking or wearing the right things. We desperately need to learn how to change the narrative going on in our heads.

In Philippians 4:8 Paul exhorts us to

Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Paul tells us we can, and must, take control of our thinking. But the million-dollar question is: How? Practically speaking, how do we learn to think in a faithful manner rather than a worldly manner?

Getting Control of Our Focus

Let me give you some suggestions that the Bible gives us and some that I have found helpful.

Saturate yourself with the Word of God. It was David who said, "your word have I hidden in my heart that I may not sin against the Lord." (Psalm 119:11) When Jesus was tempted by the Devil, He quoted Scripture.

The Bible does several very important things for us.

It tells us the truth about ourselves. The Bible is remarkable in the way it confronts what we have tried so hard to keep hidden. It talks frankly about lust, bitterness, revenge, selfishness, materialism, and unforgiveness. If you listen to what the Bible is telling you it will help you see the truth about yourself and burst that bubble of denial we so often live in.

It tells us the truth about God. The best place to learn about the Lord is to listen to what the Lord Himself tells us about Himself. The Bible records what God has told us about Himself through His words and His deeds. The more you learn about the character of God, the easier it is to trust Him.

It records the teaching of Jesus. As we read the Bible we get to know Jesus. We get to walk with Him, listen to Him, and marvel at Him.

It warns us of dangers. The Bible points to those things which will alienate us from God and make us miserable.

It cheers us on. The Bible is filled with encouragement because it is anchored in grace and mercy. The pages of the Bible ooze with love.

Worship regularly. Worship is designed to change the focus of our life. Every one of us is naturally self-absorbed. We see life only from our narrow perspective on things. Worship opens our eyes to what is bigger and greater than us. Worship (if it is truly worship and not a "show") should change our focus. It should quiet us, humble us, and delight us.

Some of our greatest joys come from seeing those we love, honored, appreciated, and appreciated. We beam as we watch our children walk across the stage at graduation. We are thrilled to watch the excitement on the face of our child when they win a big game. We grin with pride as our spouse is honored for their good work. In much the same way, when God is honored, His people should rejoice.

The secondary benefit to worship is the way it gives us the chance to encourage each other and cheer for each other. It is a way to remind each other that we are not alone in this journey. In Hebrews 10 we are told,

24Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

"Motivate one another" and "encourage one another" surround the command about not neglecting meeting together. Worship is where we can both motivate and encourage each other! It is like weekly filling your car with gas.

Look for the positive and celebrate what is worthwhile. For some reason we have been trained to do just the opposite. We have become suspicious and paranoid. We are on the lookout for those who are trying to rip us off. We tend to read negative tones in words, texts, and notes. It seems like most people are like teapots just on the verge of boiling, ready to let off some significant steam!

I suggest we learn to change that narrative. We can choose to view things from a positive perspective. Instead of looking for the people who are jerks, why not look for those who are kind, generous, and helpful. You will complain about bad service, but do you ever affirm good service?

Set out to catch people serving well and those who brighten our day. Notice (and comment on) those who do their jobs exceptionally well. When you notice positive things others are doing, you encourage them, and you also change your point of reference. Instead of being a person who looks for things to be angry or discouraged about, start looking for the things worth celebrating.

Do a daily recap before the Lord. It is a very good practice to stop and review your day. Where did you get mired in worldly thinking? Where did you jump to negative conclusions? What great promises did you forget? Which ones did you remember? What blessings did you miss? Did you see any of God's surprises today? Any unexpected ways He showed His faithfulness? Doing this kind of an evaluation can help you proceed as a person of faith rather than a person of the world; as One who believes God, rather than one who just believes in God.

Abraham believed God and it opened him up to the blessings of God. I believe the same is true for us. Think about the contrast between seeing the world through the eyes of the world and through the eyes of faith.

The world sees opposition/resistance; we will see opportunity. Opportunity to do good, to build bridges, to have fruitful conversations, and to see God move mountains.

The eyes of the world see defeat; the eyes of faith see growth in wisdom and understanding.

The eyes of the world see poverty and a feeling of deprivation; the eyes of faith see contentment and rejoice at what God provides.

The eyes of the world see things that are impossible; the eyes of faith see the chance for God to do the incredible.

The eyes of the world see the end; the eyes of faith see the end of the beginning.

On which side are you standing? Are you having trouble seeing faithfully? It may be time for you to get a new prescription.