Grains of Sand Multiplied

Week Five

Grains of Sand Multiplied

In Genesis 22:17 God told Abraham, “I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.”

We, as believers in Christ, are those grains of sand, we are descendants of Abraham. How numerous are we? How many Christians are there in the world, how many have gone on before us? How many are there alive right this second? Each one of us who has ever looked for the Messiah, the Anointed One and found him is one of those grains of sand.

We refer to Abraham as our ancestor and are numbered as one of his descendants.

When we think that we are each equivalent to one grain of sand, it doesn’t seem like much, but if we are all put together we can become a beach, more and more of us can become an ocean bottom. It is awesome to think what can happen if we all work together. It all started with one grain of sand, one faithful man, Abraham.

His faith has begat multitudes. Abraham never saw his descendant, Christ, but his faith was so great that he believed without seeing. He believed what God told him. We are to be like Father Abraham and continue to grow new people in the faith. We are to share our faith and help others become like us, children of the king.

How awesome it is to think about one grain of sand working to make believers out of those around us. If we really ponder it, one grain of sand can really be an annoyance, if you have sand irritating your skin, it can rub you raw, one grain of sand is all it takes to make a pearl of great value inside an oyster. One grain of sand can cause problems if you have it in your gas tank or if it gets in your eye or your sandal.

One little tiny grain of sand can do a lot for the Lord, if that grain of sand is one of Father Abraham’s children. Do you remember a Christian that would not leave you alone, but kept speaking the word of God to you? My mother was like that to me. Sometimes I would get so irritated with her, her answer for all of lifes’ problems was Jesus. As a child and a young woman it seemed old fashioned to me - I just didn’t get it.

I thank God for her persistence now, and I find myself being the same way with my own children and grandchildren. We have to continue being that grain of sand that never gives up.

This is the way that the Good News of Jesus Christ is spread. My mother taught me, I taught my children and I am teaching my grandchildren as well. The message is a solid one.

In Deuteronomy 6:4-9 we read an account of God telling Moses what he expected from his children, the Israelites. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

This means, that we are to live and breathe the will of God. He wants to be in our hearts all day, every day. How very amazing that is. And we are to share what we know of him and his goodness with our children and those around us.

Jesus gave us similar commands in Matthew 22:37-40. “Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Father Abraham understood these commandments nearly 400 years before Moses received them and nearly 2,000 years before Jesus spoke them. God was speaking to Abraham directly and he understood what God’s plan was. Abraham knew what God required of man. That is why his faith was credited to him as righteousness. He believed without ever seeing the promise.

How much greater our faith should be, having seen the promise. How much greater our faith should be having God’s written word at our fingertips. Why are we lacking the kind of faith that Abraham had? What can we do to honor him? If we look to Hebrews 11 we can get an idea of just what those who have gone before us had to endure to bring us into the kingdom.

The definition of faith is “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.” Heb. 11:1-2 Do we have that kind of faith? If we do, then we need to pass it on no matter what the cost. If we are certain of eternal life because of our belief in Christ, then who are we telling about this ‘Good News’? Lets continue to multiply that ocean bottom until the whole world knows.

Heavenly Father,

We want to be multiplied, we want our faith to be like the faith of Abraham. Your word tells us that because Abraham believed, it was accounted to him for righteousness. That is the kind of faith we want, we want to believe that whatever you say will happen, will happen. You told Abraham that you would bless him and that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. This promise is still being fulfilled and we want to thank you. Thank you for being a God of such provision and such love that you have called each one of us to believe as Father Abraham believed. Thank you for your undying, eternal love. Thank you for coming to earth in the form of Jesus Christ and dying for our sins. Bless you Lord, you are mighty and awesome. Thank you for being so wonderful. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.