Prophetic Vision

Genesis 15:1-21 (ESV)
¹  After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”
²  But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
³  And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.”
⁴  And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.”
⁵  And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
⁶  And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
⁷  And he said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
⁸  But he said, “O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”
⁹  He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
¹⁰  And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half.
¹¹  And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
¹²  As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him.
¹³  Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.
¹⁴  But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.
¹⁵  As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.
¹⁶  And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
¹⁷  When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.
¹⁸  On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,
¹⁹  the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,
²⁰  the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
²¹  the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

When I read this today I again noticed something in scripture I had never really noticed before. God prophesied to Abram in a vision. A prophetic vision. A very clear, detailed vision followed by a covenant. 

In that vision God showed Abram that the nation that would come from him, even though it did not exist yet except in the mind of God, would be servants in a foreign land for 400 years. God also revealed that He would judge that nation and Abram's descendants would return to the land God identified. We know from Bible history that happened when Israel was in bondage to Egypt for 400 years. God judged Pharaoh and Egypt with 10 horrible plagues and wiped out Pharaoh and his army at the Red Sea. 

That blows me away that God revealed the future to Abram centuries before it even happened. That whetted my appetite to sit before God and listen to Him more intently as I read scripture and wait on Him. I still believe He speaks through dreams and visions to this day. I am most interested in what God has on His mind and heart these days. I asked God to speak to me like He did to Abram. 

I have something Abram never had. I have my Bible. That is the primary place I look. I don't stop there. I make being still and listening to God a regular part of my prayers. Many times I sit still and receive nothing. Sometimes I receive burdens for people and specific ways to pray for them. Sometimes I am impressed to turn to a scripture like this morning to pray through. On rare occasions God gives me dreams. Vivid dreams. I usually record them. I don't always share them. I pray over them to make sure they are from Him. 

It is foolish for me to go out and to make my plans when God knows the future and His future may not be the same as my plans. It seems much more wise to wait on the Lord and let Him point the right direction for life and ministry. However God chooses to speak and reveal His will is okay to me. Like I already said, the primary place I look is in the word of God. 

I am thankful for my jaunt through Genesis 15. I hope and pray God shows me things like He did with Abram. The sad part of this story is Abram compromised along the way. He did not wait for the promised heir through Sarah. He took matters into His own hands. We have paid for it ever since. When God spoke Abram believed. He grew impatient along the way. 

Abram should have waited. He should have trusted God to do exactly what He revealed. In the end God did exactly what He said. He gave birth to the nation of Israel through Abram and Sarah. Israel served Egypt in bondage for four centuries. God did indeed deliver them and give them the promised land. When God gives prophetic revelation, if it is really from Him, we can trust all He reveals.