The PromiseMartyn Payne |
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On your marks: God sometimes feels so close while at other times God seems to be out of reach and out of sight. Sometimes God startles us by the immediacy of his presence but then God is gone again, drawing us on by his very absence. This has been the experience of God's people all down the ages, ever since we cut ourselves off from intimacy with God at the beginning. This is just as true an experience of God for the 'great names' of the Bible as it is for Christians today. God calls us to 'live by faith, not by what we see' (2 Corinthians 5:7) because 'faith makes us sure of what we hope for and gives us proof of what we cannot see' (Hebrews 11:1). The following story is about God meeting Abram to remind him of God's presence and God's promise of a great family one day. It is part of a series of stories linked to the big Bible story of 'Hide and Seek'. Get set: You can find a retelling of this story in The Barnabas Children's Bible, story 13. You can read the story in the Bible in Genesis 15. You'll also need: colours, paints and collage material for a starry sky mural; small gold stars and back felt; luminous stars and a large piece of card. Go! 1. Abram's experience of God in this story is one of several in his lifetime. These were moments of glory when he heard God's voice for himself. Each time he was promised a future, a home and a family and each new vision helped him go on living by faith. God's promises were given again and again to reassure Abram and to keep him believing. Even when the child Isaac did arrive, Abram knew by then that there was even more to come. He still needed to go on seeking God and his true home in heaven. As the writer of Hebrews puts it: 'Because Abraham had faith, he lived as a stranger in the promised land... Abraham did this, because he was waiting for the eternal city that God had planned and built' (Hebrews 11:9-10). 2. There are promises all around us in our everyday life, though we don't often realize it. Show the group a banknote. Can they see the promise written on it? This bit of paper - and that is all it really is - is only valuable because of the bank's promise to back it up. Show the group a sweet wrapper. Can they see the small print that contains the maker's guarantee - another form of promise - that this is the genuine article? If it isn't, you can make a fuss and they will send you a new bar of chocolate instead! Show the group a manufacturer's guarantee that has come with something you have recently bought. Again, this is a promise that it is in working order and if it isn't they must do something about it. Many things are backed by a promise. God's love for Abram was backed by a promise and, like the banknote, sweet wrapper and guarantee, God gives signs of his promises. For Abram these were the stars in the sky and a vision in the night. Later God also gave him a change of name (see Genesis 17:4-5) and a visit from three strangers (18:1-15). God keeps underlining his promises. For ourselves we have the written words of Jesus, the inner witness of the Holy Spirit and the encouragement of Christian friends and family. God keeps his promises. Today's story is about one of those moments when Abram was reminded of this to help him keep going on day by day by faith. Like all of us, he got worried about the future and God came and reminded him of his promise. Read the story together from The Barnabas Children's Bible, story 13, or from Genesis 15. Can anyone now retell the story as it must have sounded when Abram told his wife Sarai what had happened that night? 3. Play a 'cross the circle' game. Stand in a circle and then make certain statements; if that statement is true for anyone, he or she should cross carefully from one side of the circle to the other. For example,
Abram was given promises from God but they were a long time in coming. Abram needed to be reminded again and again of God's promises. So, what promises do you make? What has been promised you by teachers, friends or parents? What promises do you make to them? What do you feel like when promises are broken? Why do you think people break promises? Why do we need to be reminded of the promises given to us? What ways can you think of to help you remember what has been promised us? Maybe by something written down? A keepsake? A ribbon? A bracelet? 4. God used the stars to remind Abram not to forget God's promises. Stick some luminous stars on a large piece of card and then turn the lights off. Let them shine very briefly. Give the group only a limited time to count how many there are before you remove the stars from their view. How many were there? Out in the desert at night Abram would have seen so many more stars than we usually do, because of street and other lighting. So this was going to be a big promise! The stars would always remind Abram that God's promise was going to come true, even when there was no sign of a child on the way yet. Faith is believing in what we cannot yet see because the one who has promised it is thoroughly trustworthy. Do some promises seem easier to believe because of the one who makes them? Share some promises you have heard or have made yourself. What sign (like the stars) would go with each one to help you believe in the promise? For example: I promise to pick you up at 3.30... and here's my mobile phone number in case I'm not there. I promise to send you that recipe... and here are some of the ingredients ready for you now. I promise to be back at the car in 15 minutes... and here are my car keys so you can wait. Can the group think of any more promises with reassuring signs like this? In The Bible Make and Do Book 2 from Barnabas, there is a design for making a star mobile. 5. God not only pointed Abram up to the stars as a sign of the promise but also gave him instructions for a strange act of worship, during which a pot with smoke and flames moved right up through the middle of all that Abram had prepared. Smoke and fire were seen as a picture of God's presence. Then, while Abram was in a deep sleep, God whispered more words of reassurance into his mind about the future. God is always willing to reassure us if we ask him. God can speak to us through very ordinary things like smoke, fire and stars. Other followers of God in the Bible and down the ages have had similar experiences. For example:
Bring in some of the following objects and talk together about how God might speak to us through these everyday things: a wristwatch, a flower from the garden, a shiny precious stone, a cup of water. Encourage the group to hear God's promises all around them through everyday things in order to help them to go on living by faith. 6. Create a large star map together, with groups of stars arranged to make some new Bible constellations that can remind us of God's promises; for example, a constellation like Noah's Ark, the burning bush, a staff or a shepherd's crook, a sheep, a flame, a sword, a cross, or a dove. When it is completed, what new shapes might they see in this 'starry sky' to encourage them to trust God's promises? 7. Finish with a prayer activity together. Scatter some small gold stars slowly across a large piece of black felt. As you do so, read the words of Genesis 15:5-6. For Abram these were his stars of the promise. His family would one day be as many as the stars in the sky. For ourselves the stars can also be signs of God's promises to us. Each one can be a promise from God. As a leader reads out slowly some of the following promises of God from the Bible, invite the group individually to pick up one of the stars, hold on to it and make this a promise for him or her in particular. The Lord God says:
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