Promises are great, but sometimes the just don’t seem to be enough. God promised us at our baptism that he would care for us, but sometimes we just wish he would care a bit more.

Abram had the same problem. God had promised him that he would have many children, and yet he was childless. He didn’t even have one child. So, what good were God’s promises if they didn’t seem to happen. Abram was already eighty-five years old and he was struggling to understand God. So, God spoke to Abram and told him that he was his shield. God had always been faithful to Abram in the past, and he would continue to be faithful to him.

Then God took Abram outside and told him to look up at the stars. God told Abram to count the stars. Have you ever tried counting the stars? You can see the big ones that form the Saucepan or the Southern Cross, but what about all those tiny ones that form the Milky Way? And then those tiny little dots that flicker in the sky. Sometimes there are so many stars that they form a cloud. There is no way that we can count the stars. Yet God knows every single star. The number of stars is far beyond anything we can understand, yet God knows each star by name. That’s how great our God is.

Abram needed to look beyond the stars to the great God who created them. God promised him that his descendants would be as many as the stars, and Abram needed to know that the God who created the stars could and would keep his promises. And Abram did indeed believe the Lord.

We too need to trust in the Lord to keep his promises to us. The Lord who promised at our baptism that he would always care for us, is the same God who made the stars and who still knows all their names. Next time you are tempted to doubt God’s care for you, look up at the stars and remember the God who created them.

Reflection with your child:

Why did Abram have to try and count the stars?

Source: Sermon by Rev. S. ‘t Hart