In God’s Sight

Pentecost 9, August 10, 2025

Genesis 15:1-6
Psalm 33:12-22
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
Luke 12:32-40

Our psalm today has 22 verses, the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Although it is not an acrostic psalm (each verse beginning with the corresponding letter) it is done intentionally to say that the psalm’s message is all you need to know about God. That message is to tell us that God watches over all the inhabitants of the earth, especially those who fear  God. This fear comes from the knowledge that we cannot save ourselves and there is nothing in the world that can save us – neither army, strength, or even a war horse. Only God can save us. This message is continued in all of the other lessons we read for today.

God, in a vision, tells Abram the same thing. That God will be Abram’s shield. While Abram searched for a solution to his and Sarai’s childlessness, God told him that God will provide. This is Abram’s big concern because the Israelites did not believe in eternal life but that you lived on through your descendants. Our text tells us that Abram believed the Lord – it is only God who can bring about salvation.

Our Hebrew text uses the Abraham story to tell us the same thing.  This text begins with a well quoted verse: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” After this line the writer of Hebrews gives Abraham as an example. Not only did Abraham have faith that God would provide an offspring but he also had the faith to leave his homeland and travel to a new land. Even Isaac and Jacob. They all lived by faith even without knowing what we know – Jesus Christ. 

That is what Jesus is telling us in his lesson in the gospel reading. Telling us to not be worried about anything but to trust fully in him. These three short sayings may have been spoken by Jesus at different times and Luke has put them together because he saw a connection. The first saying is that we are to trust in God so much that we should sell all that we have and give it away. For the members of the early church this made much sense. They believed that Jesus would return in their lifetime. We also have the example in Acts of how the early Christians shared all that they had with each other. While that example of early Christian living may not have lasted long we do know that Christians were much more supportive of each other and shared much more of their gifts with each other then we presently do. That was because most of the early Christians were the very poor; many were even slaves and had nothing. But that only means this text is truly for us. It is a reminder that we are to put our trust only in God and not our possessions. 

Jesus knows how corrupting wealth can be, that is why he challenges us with this. I wonder: could you sell all that you have and give it away? Or are you so attached to your possessions that you could not do it? Think about all that you have and the greatest gift that you have – salvation through Jesus – and pray that you will be able to share more of it with those in need.