Saved By Faith

“‘Do not fear, Abram,

I am a shield to you;

your reward shall be great.”

Abram said,

“O Lord God.”

Genesis 15:1–2

God is so good to us. Here He is revealing even more of Himself to Abram. God lets Abram know that He will be a shield to him, and Abram replies with “O Lord God.” Abram had come to recognize God as a God, and then he learned that He was the God, El Elyon, God Most High.

Now Abram calls Him Adonai Jehovah, his Master and God. Abram is finally before the Lord in total belief and submission that He is his God and Master, and Abram’s belief is reckoned to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). In the Hebrew the word believed is “aman,” and it means to render firm or faithful, to be true or certain.

Abram is saved by his faith in God, by his belief in His word. Abram has now put all his trust in the One he knows is faithful. Abram is justified by faith, and this salvation experience is recorded by God. It is recorded in His Word so that we may know that our relationship with our God comes through our faith in Him. In Romans 4:23–24 we read, “Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.”

In Genesis 12, God gave Abram a promise. When Abram had fully taken hold of that promise, God cut a covenant with him. This covenant is known as the Abrahamic Covenant. This covenant still stands today. It still holds true.

God made Himself the guarantee of this covenant. He passed through the pieces of flesh; Abram did not. This covenant was the gift of God and was God’s to keep. Before God passed through the pieces of flesh, He told Abram about the four hundred years his descendants would spend enslaved in a strange land, and He also told him that He, God, would bring them out. Isaiah 48:3 reads, “I declared the former things long ago and they went forth from My mouth, and I proclaimed them. Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.” We know now on this side of history that God did exactly what He said He would, so we can trust that when God says something, He means it.

Oh Father,

You are an awesome God, totally trustworthy and in control. You are our faithful God. You know the beginning and the end. You determine our times and places. You raise up, and it is You who brings down. You alone are God, and You alone are worthy of all glory and honor and praise. Oh Father, what peace we have when we finally surrender to You in abandoned obedience and in complete confidence in Your sovereignty.

Oh Father, thank you for making the way of salvation by faith in You. If it were according to my deeds or according to my ability to keep Your command without fail, I know I would be forever lost from You. You have made it according to faith, according to my personal surrender to You. How I thank You. May I be able to say with truthfulness that You are my Master and my God.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen.