I Know Whom I Have Believed

When God called Abram (before he was Abraham) he informed him that one of the reasons he had called him was because God knew that Abram was not only going to tell his children about God, he was also going to instruct them in the worship of God. As an aside, that tells us the responsibility we have to instruct our offspring in the knowledge and worship of God. When God called him, he promised him that not only was he going to have his own child (Abram was at the moment childless) but that his descendants were going to be like the sand on the sea shore. Abram was 75 years old when God spoke to him the first time and made those promises to him.

In the end, Abraham waited 25 years for the fulfilment of the first part of God’s promise. Isaac was born when Abraham was a 100 years and the Bible tells us in Genesis 25:8 that he ended up living an extra seventy five years after the birth of Isaac. A further reading of Genesis 28 tells us at verse 26 that Isaac was 60 when Jacob and Esau were born even though he married Rebekah when he was 40. That means that Abraham had around 15 years to spend with Jacob and Easau before he died.

By the time we get to Genesis 28, Jacob had not only got Esau to forfeit his birth right but in connivance with their mother Rebekah, he has obtained their father’s blessing which legitimately belongs to Esau. Isaac asks Jacob to go his uncle in Padan Aram to not only take a wife but to stay there till Esau’s anger cools. While in the wilderness at a place called Luz, Jacob lies down with his head on a stone for a pillow and dreams about angels going from earth to heaven and back on a stairway with God appearing at the top of the stairway. God’s makes him a promise and based on God’s promise when Jacob wakes up he makes a deal with God. He promises to serve God if he would provide for him and preserve his life. He creates an altar there and names the place Bethel to commemorate his encounter with God.

Abraham lived with Jacob and Esau for about fifteen years before his death. He must have spent a lot of time with the twins on his knees, telling about the God who also wanted to be their God and have a relationship with them. Which was why when God showed up when Jacob was a fugitive and desolate and in despair at being separated from his family; he wasn’t a stranger to Jacob. When Jacob wasn’t really looking for God, God was looking for him. Another thing was that just like his grandfather; God introduces himself to Jacob with a promise.

Wherever we are in our walk with God, I believe that as much as we want to be in fellowship with God, he wants to fellowship with us even more. The love and the purpose of God is such that he is reaching out and speaking to us each and every day, hoping that we listen. I believe that like Abraham and Jacob, God makes promises to each and every one of us regarding our lives and our purpose. At times, the promises God makes to us are not as pleasant as those made to Abraham and Jacob. When he called Saul of Tarsus who later became Paul the Apostle, he promised Paul that he was going to be a witness for him throughout the earth. I doubt when Paul heard it, he thought his witnessing would be in chains.

Abraham, Jacob and Paul all followed after God’s promise. They never knew how God’s promise was going to come to pass but one thing they all had in common was that they followed God in faith. They could not see the end of the path God was leading them on. However as a result of having a relationship with God, they were able to walk the path set before them. That was why Paul was able to say with conviction “I know whom I have believed.” That is what God is asking of each and every one of us. To find out what his promises, purposes and plans for our lives are and walk in it without wavering to the right or to the left. So that like Paul at the end of our stay on this earth, we can tell the people coming after us “I know whom I have believed.”

 JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers, http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal.