A Bigger Purpose

Reading through Genesis has been so great.  It has solidified how much I need to simply trust God and his promises.

Genesis 15 is when God makes a covenant with Abram.  Abram is worried about his future, about the fact that another man's son will be his heir.  But God makes a promise to Abram saying, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars--if in fact you can count them. So shall your offspring be." Then it says that "Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness."  Just for simply believing God's plan for his future Abram is counted righteous.

Later in the chapter God goes into detail about the future of Abram's descendants. He tells Abram about the slavery of the Israelites in Egypt, but also of their deliverance.  God promises Abram that his children will return to the land he has promised, but not until the fourth generation.

This is what hit me so strongly this time.  Verse 16 says "In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."

God was waiting to bring the Israelites back from Egypt until the sin of the Amorites had "reached its full measure" so the Israelites could wipe them out.

God's plan has so many factors. Factors that I cannot even begin to comprehend or understand. The Israelites were in captivity in Egypt for 400 years! They had to wait patiently for God's deliverance so that God could carry out every aspect of his plan.

Oh if I could only have a greater understanding of God's plan.  I spend so much time concerned about what I think is significant, when it turns out to be only minute  details.  God's glory should be my ultimate purpose.  My faith is so fragile, that I feel abandoned when I am in captivity.  In reality, God is waiting for the perfect time to wipe out his enemies and bring glory to himself.