“Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.”(Genesis 15:6)
God made a promise to Abram that seemed impossible. Abram was childless, and God promised that Abram would have a multitude of descendants. Abram’s trust wasn’t perfect. Just a few verses later Abram agreed with Sarai to find innovative ways to make God’s promise come true. But at this moment, Abram believed that God would deliver on His promise, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
What is righteousness? The word means to be on the side of or to have virtue. However, in this case, it seems so much deeper. This is what I think it means: It was credited to him as being right with – or in a trust-relationship with – God. Up to this point, God spoke to Abram, and Abram obeyed.
There is something deeper when you believe what God has promised. It takes the relationship to a deeper level. We all have people we listen to and (often) do what they say. But if we are lucky, we also have one or two friends who we trust implicitly. We don’t wonder at their alternative motives, we believe they’ve got our back.
This is why this is important – we can have a relationship with God that only goes obedience-deep and miss the deeper relationship that He wants to have. When we don’t have a trust-relationship, we miss out on everything Jesus came for. Trust relationships are built over time and they have a starting point. For Abram, the culmination of hearing God’s direction and doing what He said led to this moment.
Abram believed God and started a deeper friendship with God – a trust relationship. This is the relationship God wants with each of us. What does this trust relationship look like to you?
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