Of Sand & Stars

At the end of today, I found myself sensitive again to the worry that perhaps I will never have the privilege of marriage and family life. God knows what vocation is best for me, but would He put these desires in my heart to then leave them unfulfilled?

As I shed a few tears and got ready for bed, I responded to the sudden spiritual nudge I felt to open up my Bible. To a random page my eyes fell, and on it was the 13th Chapter of Genesis.

I skimmed quickly, my eyes searching for meaning in this page that God put before me. As I read, I realized it was the story of Abram. He had just parted ways with his nephew Lot (whose family was going to settle in a different region of the land), and as he did so, the Lord said the following to Abram (in Verses 14-17):

Look about you.
And from where you are,
Gaze to the north and south, east and west.
All the land you will see,
I will give you and your descendants forever.

I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth;
If anyone could count the dust of the earth,
Your descendants too might be counted.

So set forth and walk about in the land,
Through its length and breadth,
For to you I will give it.

What beautiful hope this gives me, to stumble upon a verse in the Bible that is God's promise to someone about his future descendants being so many that they can be counted as only the grains of sand or dust can! May I take personal meaning from that passage also, I hope?

Later in the Book of Genesis, through a covenant, God promises to this man and his wife Sarah that--despite their old age--their descendants will be as numerous as the "stars of the sky."

I could have not stumbled upon a more beautiful answer to the question that had been burning within my heart.

And from this I must remember the mistake that Abraham and Sarah made in response to that covenant; they mistakenly thought that it would be the doings of their own will that would bring about the change that God had promised, instead of surrendering and trusting all to God. Oh, how I pray that I would not make the same mistake!