Text: Genesis 15: 12-16
The fact of God’s sovereignty is a difficult thing for some to acknowledge. Finding fault with it has become a fashion today even among Bible Scholars. Imagine a God who is Omnipotent but never omniscient and sovereign who has no ultimate power to effectuate anything. The result would be disastrous. It is unfair on our part to doubt or to see the sovereignty of God as an unpleasant reality. God’s sovereignty is actually good for us and beautiful.
One text which is teaching us the beauty of God’s sovereignty is Gen. 15:12-16. This chapter describes the covenant God is making with Abraham. As the covenant ratification was in process, God is announcing Abraham something that concerns the future of his descendents. The information was not good news at all. It was about the slavery of the people of Israel. God said to Abraham, “Know certainly (ie. it is sure) that your descendents will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them for four Hundred years.”
Notice that this announcement came when Abraham did not have any child; and did not possess any portion of the land of Canaan. God’s words are as if all these are already accomplished. Second, this anticipates the slavery of Abraham’s descendents in Egypt and their possession of Canaan as the Promised Land later. For, God tells that they are going to be ‘strangers in a land that is not theirs’ and ‘afterward they shall come out (from that land to this) with great possessions’. To believe all what God says here necessitates a knowledge and recognition of His sovereignty. And Abraham did have them.
When God said, your descendents will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, he meant Egypt. But why Egypt? Why no other place? We have an answer for this in Gen. 46: 34b. Shepherds were an abomination to the Egyptians. So it was in Egypt God could make them a nation since they will never intermarry and thus corrupt their line. See the beauty of God’s sovereign plan! Abraham might not have understood God’s plan then. But he planned things for the benefit of his descendents.
God also said, your descendents will be ‘afflicted for Four hundred years.’ Our question is why four hundred years? God gives an answer in v. 16- “for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” Though God promised the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession to Abraham and his descendents, God did not plan to give it to them right away. He needs reason to destroy the present inhabitants of the land and give it to Israel. So he allowed four hundred years for the Amorites! Also, he needed time to make the descendents of Abraham into a nation. This is why he sovereignly had chosen Four Hundred years. The four generation who had been to Egypt is represented by the lineage of Levi, Kohath, Amram and Moses (Exod. 6:16-20).
But did God intend evil when he planned Abraham’s descendents to be slaves in Egypt? The answer is no. Because God knew how the Egyptians would treat them and he allowed it so that he may judge the nation Egypt as well. Which He wanted to be a lesson for the future generations.
When Abraham was entering into a covenant with God, he never understood the sovereign plans of God for him and his descendents. But time had proven that God’s plans were good. To see God’s sovereign plans it takes faith. God’s sovereignty is a powerful source of confidence and strength for us. Knowing that he never plans anything evil for us further motivate us to honor and appreciate God’s sovereignty. Even when what comes on our way give us no clue about where things are going, let us trust in this sovereign God and his good plans for us.