Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 373

He took him outside and said:

“Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can.
Just so,” he added, “shall your descendants be.”
Abram put his faith in the LORD,
who credited it to him as an act of righteousness.

Saint Paul, in his letter to the Romans, makes much of this passage from the Book of Genesis. Following the principles Jesus had laid down, the early Church reflected more upon Abraham and less about Moses, and more upon our faith in God than upon rigorous observance of the Law.

Faith, as this Genesis passage indicates, is about the trust two parties place in each other. More than contractual, it reflects their mutual confidence, affection, and admiration. They rely on each other and they are there for each other.

Faith may be called an adult relationship. Children, as they discover their separate identity within a relationship to parents and others, can be expected to lie and attempt to deceive. They cannot simply mirror everything their parents and older people want or think. To find themselves they must sometimes conceal their thoughts, desires, and plans. Their foolishness is often transparent to adults. 

Adults -- after considerable struggle! -- should have attained comfort with their own identity and freedom to relate to others with trust, openness, and freedom. Adults appreciate the boundaries between individuals even as they are willing to share life and experience with them.

Abraham believed the LORD’s promise that he would have many descendants. There was no scientific evidence to warrant such a faith. In fact his and Sarah’s advanced age made it seem unlikely. He had, with God’s help won a battle against four kings; but, in today's passage from Genesis 15, they had not yet seen the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. They were still getting acquainted with the LORD, and their willingness to live by God’s promise was a huge step for the patriarchal couple and all their descendants.

The Bible recalls the childish behavior of their descendants, especially as they found freedom in the Sinai peninsula. Although they had seen a “mighty work,” the destruction of Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, they had little faith in their Deliverer. Like children the Hebrews continually tested the limits of God’s patience; like adolescents they studied the law for loopholes. Salvation History records continual cycles of deception and trust. Always the Lord was faithful as he taught them to believe through the Law, wisdom literature, and the prophets. 

As heirs of Abraham, Christians see the “greatest proof” of God’s love in the sacrificial death of his only beloved son. With our eyes fixed on the Lord, we can have no doubt of God's intense, personal regard for each of us. 

Faith in an omnipotent, omniscient, and entirely benevolent God is about “You!” in the sense that no thought, word, or deed is hidden from you, my God. “You are always here with me.” Living in the truth is surrender to your merciful, affectionate presence; it is a willingness to trust the One who is trustworthy.

LORD, you have probed me, you know me:

you know when I sit and stand;

you understand my thoughts from afar.

You sift through my travels and my rest;

with all my ways you are familiar. Psalm 139