Genesis 15:12,17: “Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him . . . And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces.”

September 30th, 2022 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Here we find an interesting illustration of God’s view of an agreement between God and a man. Abraham was in a foreign land and had successfully chased down and defeated 4 kings at night. But now, a few days later, this darkness was frightening and distressing to him. This encounter with God is filled with symbolism and lessons. God was showing Abraham the great afflictions that would come upon his children in Egypt in the years to come. But God was also promising to see them through the difficulties and bring them back into the Promised Land. Then God confirmed His promise by making (cutting) a covenant (contract) with Abraham. When it says, “a smoking oven and a burning torch,” it means the presence of God was passing through the halved sacrifices Abraham had prepared. We notice that Abraham was not required to pass through, as would normally be the case when sealing a contract, but only God passed through because God Himself would do the work. This covenant depended on God’s faithfulness, not Abraham’s work.

There is a lesson here for us today. Salvation is not us meeting God halfway. We can’t meet Him halfway because we are very much like Abraham, with our own side trips to Egypt. We are like unfocused, attention-deficit-disorder-inflicted, little kids. We are not getting more and more holy. We are still sinners saved by grace, the very same person we were when we first got saved. If the Holy Spirit pulled out today, we’d be doing the same thing we did before we got saved. Left to ourselves, we are no better today than when we first believed! But God is slowly but surely changing our hearts, from the inside out. It is God’s work in us, and in the final analysis, all we will have done is surrender to His grace over and over again. So, surrender again right now. Give Him the day in front of you and wait for Him to do mighty things, as He promised to do.

“LORD, we give You this day for Your service, in Jesus’ name.”