Tuesday, April 12, 2005 Lenten Fast
Basil the Confessor, Bishop of Parium
6th Hour: Isaiah 40:18-31 1st Vespers: Genesis: 15:1-15 2nd Vespers: Proverbs 15:7-19
Genesis 15:1-15 LXX, especially vss. 2, 3: "And Abram said,
Master and Lord, what wilt Thou give me? Whereas I am departing without a child, but the son of Masek my home-born
female slave, this Eliezer of Damascus is mine heir. And Abram said, I am grieved since Thou has given me no seed, but my
home-born servant shall succeed me." God establishes faith in Himself by moving within the hearts of His servants. In the
hearts of certain blessed ones, He reveals in advance what He will do. Subsequently, He carries out that which He has
foretold through such Prophets. God promises, and He fulfills. While often He surprises His people, He never contradicts
what He has revealed beforehand, neither His words nor His purpose. This Divine consistency allows the Faithful to
receive apparent contradictions in peace of heart, leaving what is not understood to God.
The Lord assures the Faithful: "I Am God, and there is no other; I Am God, and there is none beside Me, telling beforehand
the latter events before they come to pass, and they are accomplished together: and I said, All my counsel shall stand, and I
will do all things which I have planned" (Is. 46:9,10 LXX). Reading Scripture as a whole, the Faithful discover that God is
engaged in a building process: first revealing, then allowing time to elapse, then revealing more detail, and ultimately
fulfilling. Holy Scripture, therefore, ought to be read mindful of this unfolding quality. Today's reading illustrates this
process of unfolding revelation.
First: consider what God told Abram in Haran when He first disclosed Himself to the Patriarch: "I will make thee a great
nation, and I will bless thee and magnify thy name, and thou shalt be blessed....and in thee shall all the tribes of the earth be
blessed" (Gen. 12:2,3 LXX). Then review the events that followed: God protected Abram from Pharaoh (Gen. 12:11-20
LXX). Trusting in God, Abram gave Lot, his nephew, the land of his choice (Gen. 13:8,9 LXX). Lot chose to go to
Sodom, and later Abram had to rescue Lot by military action (Gen. 13:10-14:24 LXX). Thus, Abram experienced the
meaning of God's promises to him: "I will bless those that bless thee and curse those that curse thee" (Gen. 12:3 LXX).
In today's reading, one can observe God unfolding more of what was imbedded in His earlier words: "I will bless thee."
The Lord reminded Abram that He was his shield Who would reward him for his faith (Gen. 15:1 LXX). Abram admitted
the truth of the Lord's words but shared a heartfelt grief: his heir would not be his own son, but a slave born within his
household (vss.2,3). Note the next verse very carefully: "And immediately there was a voice of the Lord to him, saying,
"This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come out of thee shall be thine heir'" (vs.4 LXX). Abram had settled for an
assumption "of his own mind" - that God would make a great nation from one of his slaves. The Lord not only countered
Abram's false assumption but also enlarged his vision with additional revelation. His heir would be his own son.
God then revealed to Abram a complete "scenario" of the future of his family (vss. 13-15): his descendants would be aliens
in a foreign land (Egypt). They would be slaves there (after Joseph's repose). God's judgment would come upon that
nation (the plagues). The nation of Abram's descendants would come out with great possessions (the Exodus). Eventually,
they would return to the land God had promised to him (after the wilderness years), and the land would become theirs.
Observe how God promised and how His purposes unfolded little by little. Let us learn how great are God's promises: "It
is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom" (Lk. 12:32). The Lord's mercies and faithfulness truly are new
every morning.
Thou hast justified by faith our father Abram; by his pleadings, save us, O Christ.
