RABBI YECHIEL ECKSTEIN

The Real Deal


October 18, 2010

The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.

"I will make you into a great nation

and I will bless you;

I will make your name great,

and you will be a blessing." —Genesis 12:12



As people of faith, we sometimes are asked, "How do you know God's promises are real?" "Is it possible to know God on a personal level?" Good questions — and I think we can find the answer in God's call and promise to Abram.



Abram was living in Ur (modern-day Iraq) when God called him to a covenant relationship with Him. God promised Abram that he would become a great nation and that all the nations of the world would be blessed through him. What a remarkable set of promises!



Of course, Abram's half of the bargain required significant sacrifice, faith, and obedience. He had to leave his home and go to a foreign land. He gave up security. He gave up inheritance and wealth to obey God's command. Uprooted from his home and comfort, Abram traveled to the land of Canaan where he built an altar and worshipped the Lord. There he and his wife, Sarai, lived, waiting fulfillment of the promise of an heir, the beginnings of a great family and descendants.



To some, it may have appeared that God abandoned His promise to Abram. Sarai and Abram remained childless for decades. Nevertheless, later events in Abram's life demonstrated God's everlasting, unwavering faithfulness to him. When Abram was 99 years old, he and his wife, Sarai, finally had the son they were waiting for — Isaac. Years after Isaac's miraculous birth, Isaac's son Jacob, also called "Israel," became the father of the 12 tribes of the nation of Israel. And with the fulfillment of that promise, God changed Abram's name to Abraham, which means "the father of many."



God fulfilled His promise to Abraham to "make you into a great nation." Through God's covenant with one man, the rest of the world was also blessed. Because God chose friendship with Abraham and kept His promises to him, history was radically altered. God's blessing spread to Abraham's descendants and is still in force today.



God's promises are the real deal. When in doubt, remember Abraham and his faith journey. God is faithful and He will do as He said.



With prayers for shalom, peace,





Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein