As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
Genesis 15:12-16
Do you ever look around and wonder if God really knows what He's doing? Do you ever wonder if He really has a handle on what's going on around here? Honestly, sometimes I do. I'm afraid of the future. I'm not sure sometimes if I can trust that God really has the control over my future.
Many times if my life, I've learned that the best way to predict or gain confidence in the future is to study the past. This story is a great example of how we can use History to gain trust that God really is all-knowing about our future.
So, in this story, God is talking to Abram. Abram, as we know, is the father if the God's chosen people, the nation of Israel. In this story, God is explaining to Abram that, many years later, the nation that will exist as the offspring of Abram will be in slavery for 400 years before coming out with great possessions. He then goes on to explain that Israel will return to the promised land and take it back from the people who occupy it at that time.
God knew well before the nation of Israel even existed that they would be slaves in Egypt, and that Egypt would be hit with the plagues before they release the nation of Israel 400 years later.
Today, let's allow this to sink in a little. When we start to worry about the future, let's remember that God is all-knowing of our future. Let's remember that He told us to simply turn the steering wheel of our life over to Him, and he will take care of us. Let us trust Him that he has the power to follow through.
All we need to do is obey Him, and we have no need to worry of the future.
