God’s Vision for Us!

Christian Devotional by Pastor Cecil Thompson

Genesis 13:14-18

“And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had parted from him, ‘Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.’ So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the Lord.”

In the next few days, I would like to direct our attention to three aspects of vision. Not the vision that we are able to correct with glasses, but the type that is spiritual in nature. I have mentioned before that in my messages on Sundays, I try to focus on the kids. It serves to remind me of the importance of keeping things simple. That is my calling, my desire, and my prayer.

The three aspects of vision are: God’s vision for us; The death of the vision; and God’s provision of a new vision. Let’s consider the first for today – GOD’S VISION FOR US.

In Proverbs 29:18, we are reminded that people perish without a vision. We only have to look around us to see that this is so true. We can pick up a newspaper, listen to the radio or watch the television programming and see that we live in a world without vision. Oh, yes, people can see, but they all too often lack a vision of real purpose.

Let me share two quick illustrations that I will use in all three aspects of vision. The first is given here in Genesis 13, where Abram (later to be called Abraham by God), was given a vision of great promise. God promised him modern day Israel as an eternal possession. It was given by God. The Arabs can protest, but they had better realize that the One who the gave deed to the land was the creator and owner of the universe—that includes the Land of Promise.

Not only did God give Abram a vision of the land, He also gave him a vision of heritage. His offspring would be so numerous that they were likened to the dust of the earth. God told him that if people could count the dust, they could count his seed.

Some might be tempted to jump to the conclusion that this speaks only of the Jews. If we look in Galatians 3:29, we will see that all of us who are in Christ Jesus (born again), are Abraham’s seed. Just think, God was talking about you and me!

This then, is the vision that was given to Abraham. Can you just imagine the excitement that he must have felt after this vision? This man with no children and no property was given the title deed to a vision of greatness. Wow! His smile must have spread from ear to ear!

Let’s leave Abram with his smile, and fast forward more than 400 years, to the time of Moses. In the book of Exodus, we are told of how the people of Abraham’s vision were living in slavery. We read of the miraculous way Moses was discovered in the bulrushes of the Nile by Pharaoh’s daughter. She took him as her own, even though he was one of the despised Hebrews.

When Moses grew into adulthood, he determined to make things easier for his people. It didn’t work, and he was forced to flee for his life. He went to Moab where he stayed for 40 years before he received his “vision.” This time it was given from a burning bush in Exodus 3-4.

God gave Moses a wonderful vision. The vision was one of a nation of slaves being set free. No, it was more than being simply set free. They would suddenly find favor in the eyes of the Egyptians who would give them great wealth as they left.

That is a mighty vision! It is a vision without human precedent—it was and is beyond human understanding. Did I say that? That was not me, so I want to think about it. If there is something that we have never encountered before, or read about before, or heard about before, it is beyond our level of understanding. That is the time to trust God, not doubt!

To sum it up for today, we have two men who had received great and wonderful promises. The same God had opened their eyes to see what was going to happen in their lifetime. They only had to keep their eyes on the One who had given the vision. Ooops! That’s where the problem always starts for all of us. We will look at that tomorrow.

Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today. Trust Him completely and be a blessing.

— Pastor Cecil