6-09-26 Trinity Jourdain - Adonai (Names of God)

And we're going to see this name in a story in Genesis 15 and the life of Abram.

Now, at this point, his name has not yet been changed to Abraham.

And God has given him this amazing, enormous promise.

He has told Abraham that he is going to give him all of this land and that he's going to turn him into a people group.

So Abraham has left everything that is familiar to him behind, and he has followed God.

But the central part of this promise has not come to happen.

See, God has promised Abraham descendants, enough to make a people.

But Abraham still doesn't have a child.

And so Genesis 15 takes place in that space between when the promise was given and when the payoff comes.

See, God has spoken, but Abram has not yet seen the promise come to happen.

He has this word from God, but he does not yet have the result in his hands.

And that is where Adonai meets him.

We pick it up in verse 1.

After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Do not be afraid, Abram.

I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.

So you have to understand that when Abram received this promise, he was about 75 years old.

And the fulfillment won't come for about 25 years.

That's a quarter of a century between the promise and the payoff.

And if we're really honest, we are not good at waiting.

We live in a world where we expect instant communication.

We expect things to happen instantly.

We look for content that moves very quickly from one topic to the next.

And that's why sometimes for us, particularly in our world, waiting can feel like something's gone wrong.

But Abram has received a promise that actually, according to circumstances, is actually impossible.

And then he has to wait to see if it's going to come to pass.