A Little Project: Jesse Tree Week 1 Day 4

Ornament: The night sky/sky full of stars

Abram and Sara were a married couple that lives thousands of years ago. They were descendants of Noah, and Abram also was a faithful man of the Lord. Up until this point in history good had not given any commandments or guidance to his children, so God wanted to show the world what faithfulness was through Abram.

Abram and Sara were old, about seventy five, and they had never had any children. They had always wanted children, and at the time having children was considered a huge blessing by everyone. So to not have had a child was very, very difficult for Abram and and Sara. Abram cried prayers to God that he would have to make someone else who was not his own child his heir when he died, and no one would remember him.

But because the Father knew Abram was faithful, he took Abram outside one night and made him look up into the sky. He said "count the stars, if you can!" If you have ever tried to count the stars, even if you live in the city, you know that it is very hard because there are so many. Back in Abrams' time there wasn't electricity or a lot of lights at night, so anyone could see even more stars than we can now, (unless we live very far away from any towns). Good knew there were this many (because He had made them all!), but still asked Abram to count them. When Abram tried and couldn't, God said to him "as many stars as there are, that's how many descendants you will one day have."

"Look up at the sky count the stars of you can: so too will your descendants be."

Abram could not believe this, since he and his wife were so old and still didn't have any children. He asked his how he could really trust this promise, how could he know now what he would never live to see happen, even if he could have a child before he died.

The Lord had Abram lead a ritual that was very old - he had him make an animal sacrifice, with five animals which he cut in half and placed next to each other on an altar. The Lord asked this because making sacrifices of animals, was very symbolic for people of that time because meat was very valuable to men for food and produce, These sacrifice made God's words understandable to the people living at that time.

Abram made the sacrifices, and the Lord came in what looked like a flame and walked between the halves. This said to Abram - "I promise this to you, so that if I must, I will join these animals and become like them in order to fulfill what I have said to you."

Connection & Reflection: Have you ever seen the night sky full of stars? There are so many it is hard to even see them all, and especially to try and count them. The Father makes a HUGE promise to Abram! To a man who has no children and is too old to have any more, he says that he will have as many descendants as the sky has stars, billions! He also makes the promise of becoming like a sacrificed animal in order to accomplish it. That is another big promise, because the Father is the source of all life, and yet he tells Abram that he will take away his own life in order to give Abram descendants.

Today we can see that the Lord DID fulfill this promise. Think about how many people follow their faith through Abram - as of today there is estimated about 2.2 BILLION Christians, 1.6 BILLION Muslims, and 6.8 MILLION Jews. That should be enough descendants for you, right Abram?

Prayer: Father in Heaven, you love us and have made a plan for our lives. Just as you planned for Abram what seemed impossible and made it happen even by sacrificing your own life, we ask that you would help us to trust you with the plans you have made for our own lives.
Conclude with your favorite family prayer or an Our Father, Hail Mary & Glory Be.

Q - How do you think God fulfilled his promise to Abram by being sacrificed like an animal and giving up his life?

Q - When has it been hard to believe the Lord's plan for you in your life? What happened in the moments you did trust the Lord?