Look Up Again

Genesis 15:5 Then 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!”

My youngest daughter has been taught about stars and is constantly looking up at the sky and spotting the stars in the sky. This got me thinking.

Children look up. Children look around themselves and experience the world.

Early this morning I had the worst heartburn. I simply could not sleep and so I decided to get up and make myself some tea. While the water was boiling I looked out of my kitchen window and saw the stars. They were so beautiful and reminded me of when I was younger when my favourite thing to do was lie on my back outside and look at the stars. It still is but I don't look up that much anymore.

It got me thinking about Abraham.

When God told Abraham to look at the stars He was making Him a promise. My God keeps His promises. He only told Abraham to look up into the sky and count the stars. God did not put a condition to His promise because when God promises something He will follow through. He does not say that He promises only if.

That night when God spoke to Abraham He gave him a dream. He planted a vision into his mind of what the future held for Abraham. He allowed Abraham to dream big. I wonder if Abraham actually sat and tried to count the stars. I can only imagine that in his excitement he might have tried. If it were me and my dream I would've been sitting there until the stars withdrew one by one with the coming of the dawn.

There is something exhilarating about a new promise. When God whispers a dream in your ear or fans that little flame burning inside. But all too quickly that first little flame and revelation of your dream becomes easily robbed away or forgotten about with the grind of daily life.

Those days of dreaming of becoming a nurse or firefighter are replaced with bills, financial trouble and responsibilities. It is almost as though a bucket of cold water was thrown on your dreams and what you are now left with is a memory of what was hoped for.

I am sure Abraham and Sarah must've felt this way. They were well past the fertile age for having children. The stars began to wink out with every year that they waited. They may have asked themselves over and over if they had heard right. Was it even real anymore. What ensued from their questioning was doubt. Doubt swallowed up the dream and they took it into their own hands and devised their own plan.
But oh if they had only looked up during those dark times. If they had only counted the stars once more instead of looking down on their situation.

Does it feel as though your dream and promise from God has winked out? Don't look down and forget the promise God made you. Instead look up and count the stars. Keep on believing. It is through faith that we please God and He never forgets His promises to His children.

I guess that is why I love rainbows. I don't know if you have noticed but wherever there is a rainbow it is usually during the rain or after and always there is the sun shining. There have been storms in my life but one thing I could always count on was that the light of my God's glory was always shining with a promise. All those thousands of years ago God promised Noah that He would never again flood the whole Earth and as a sign He sent a rainbow so that we would always remember His promise. What sign has God given you?

Let me encourage you to look again at your dream and promise that God has given you. Look up at the sign of His promise. Do not let the stars wink out. Count them again. Remember the promise again and remember the excitement as though you are hearing and seeing the dream for the first time.