Lutheran Devotional 5th August 2025, Tuesday Message
TOPIC: Trusting God
SCRIPTURE: Genesis 15:1-6 (CEB)
1 After these events, the Lord’s word came to Abram in a vision, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your protector.[a] Your reward will be very great.”
2 But Abram said, “Lord God, what can you possibly give me, since I still have no children? The head of my household is Eliezer, a man from Damascus.”[b] 3 He continued, “Since you haven’t given me any children, the head of my household will be my heir.”
4 The Lord’s word came immediately to him, “This man will not be your heir. Your heir will definitely be your very own biological child.” 5 Then he brought Abram outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars if you think you can count them.” He continued, “This is how many children you will have.” 6 Abram trusted the Lord, and the Lord recognized Abram’s high moral character.
TODAY’S MESSAGE:
It seems weird to me, that God would care that much about whether somebody trusts Him. I mean, He’s not asking for some great deed of daring—God’s not asking Abraham to jump over a cliff, or take on a lion barehanded. No, He’s only saying, “Trust Me. I will give you a family.” How hard is that?
And yet, we all know the answer—it’s very hard. Because when it comes to something that we care about deeply, we really want to have control over that thing in our own hands. Think of the people who quote, “If you want something done right, do it yourself.” That’s the true human attitude, ever since the Garden of Eden, where the devil managed to trick us with the line, “You will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Apparently trusting God to manage the universe wasn’t good enough. And look at the results in our world today!
But this man Abraham trusts God—and God is delighted. God “counts it to him as righteousness.” Abraham is called the friend of God, and for no other reason than because he trusted Him. You really have to ask yourself how rare it is for people to trust God, if God is so overjoyed when one of us finally does!
Jesus shows the same attitude. When Jesus offers to come to a man’s house to heal his servant, the man says, “You don’t need to come, just say the word and my servant will be healed”—and Jesus is delighted. “I tell you,” He says, “not even in Israel have I found such faith.” And of course the servant is healed.
Trust matters to God. In fact, it’s deeply tied up with how He saves us from sin and evil. Jesus did all the work—He became a human being, taught and healed and took care of people, suffered betrayal and torture and even death on a cross—and rose from the dead, three days later, as many witnesses can testify. And then He says to us, “Trust Me.” Trust Me, and you will be saved. Trust Me, and your sins are forgiven, and you will be children of God in heaven. Trust Me, and you will live forever.
WE PRAY: Dear Lord, with such a Savior as You, how can I not trust You? Let Your Holy Spirit build a strong faith in my heart and life. Amen.
Reflection Questions:
- Do you find it easy or hard to trust?
- What do you know about Jesus that would lead you to think Him trustworthy?
- If you already trust in Jesus, how does that trust come out in the choices you make in your everyday life?
Today’s Readings:
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.