Genesis chapter 15

Genesis 15:1 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: ‘Do not be afraid, Abram.     I am your shield, your very great reward.’ (NIV)

We have just seen Abram march with 318 men to attack four kings and their armies to recover his nephew, Lot, all Lot's worldly good, the servants, the womenfolk, and then confront the king of Salem, and yet the first verse here is God telling Abram not to be afraid.

I'm reminded of Elijah after he had routed the prophets of Baal. He was filled with the Holy Spirit:

1 Kings 18:46 The power of the Lord came on Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel. (NIV)

Then the very next thing that happened, when Jezebel found out what had happened to her priests:

1 Kings 19:1-3a Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.  So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, ‘May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.’  Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. (NIV)

After a monumental victory against the forces of satan, being filled with the Holy Spirit and running ahead of the king's chariot to the Jezreel, Elijah is overcome with fear, with doubt, with worry. Isn’t that just what happens when something amazing happens? You have the initial euphoria, the joy, but then you start to think that you don't deserve it, that something's bound to go wrong, that surely it was a fluke, a one off, you couldn't do that again or maybe they got the wrong person, it should have been someone else who had this award, was recognised for that achievement?

it’s a case of having the adrenalin flowing, of being filled with the /Holy Spirit and then wham,. When the immediate danger has passed, your body relaxes and then the enemy slips in again, ready to start spreading the doubt, the anxiety. But look how quick God is here. Abram has barely time to blink and God is reassuring Him, and what words of reassurance He uses too. He is Abram's shield, his very great reward, just as He is our shield, our very great reward.

As with Elijah, God reassures, and does not condemn. Elijah had been out in the hot sun all day, built and altar, got rid of 450 priests of Baal, ran all the way to the city at speed and his body would have been exhausted. God did not condemn Elijah, berate him for being a coward, for running away, for forgetting all that God could do. Instead, He gave him food and drink, made sure he had rest and then spoke gently to Elijah, re-commissioning him for the work ahead.

But just as God reassured Elijah and is here reassuring Abram, so He reassures each one of us in the same way. We may not be prophets like Abram and Elijah, but the word of God can come to us too. It may be in a vision, it may be in a dream, it may be through the very clear audible voice of God or it may be through words in the bible, through the actions and words of others, or a sense of what God is saying to us. God uses all sorts of different ways to communicate with us, and we need to be open to hearing His voice, in whatever form it may take.

It is a case of having a close walk with God, of not turning to Him just because the next problem has occurred, the next worry is on the horizon and coming up fast. We need to walk with God at all times, to share things with Him, how we are feeling, what we are doing. I know He knows all this already, but like in every relationship, conversation goes two ways. How can we expect to hear from God if we never talk to Him ourselves? Why should God make an effort to talk to us when we only talk to Him in an emergency, when there are problems?

God is there in the good times and the bad times. We were never promised an easy life being a follower of Jesus, but what we do have is the promise of reward when we get to heaven. But we need to live our lives like God is walking right by our side (which He is) and to be talking with Him all the time. I always think that if I spent more time in prayer, more time taking to God, I wouldn't get so het up about things, so anxious, so worried at times.