4 AUGUST
More to come
‘After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.’ Genesis 15:1
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Psalm 18:1–19
When we meet with the words After these things it leads our thoughts backwards:
(i) after the general call and promise (chapter 12). After Abraham had made many a journey, reared many an altar, the Lord manifests himself further and confirms his faith with brighter tokens of his favour. The believer’s progress is from strength to strength. Be thankful for what you have received but count not that you have attained—there is still more behind. The tendency of grace is to mount higher and higher and it is the Lord’s purpose to answer the hungerings and thirstings which he has put in the soul.
(ii) after the victory he had lately obtained. No doubt this success was pleasing to Abraham, but it was not the great thing. Believers are thankful for the mercies of the present life, but these are not their treasure and their joy. A gracious visit from the Lord, an application of the promises, is more to them than the joy of harvest or of them that divide the spoil.
Thanks to thy name for meaner things.
But these are not my God.
As if the Lord had said, ‘Temporal blessings are but the tokens and earnests of my favour. You have more than this to rejoice. I myself am your shield and reward.’
FOR MEDITATION: ‘For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God’ (Hebrews 11:10).
‘One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus’ (Philippians 3:13–14, NIV).
SERMON SERIES: GENESIS, NO. 29 [1/5], GENESIS 15:1
Milo 