Don’t settle for Eliezer!

November 12, 2020

“After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. (Gen 15:1-3)

​Abraham was called out from the Ur of the Chaldees to go to a land he would later be shown. On the way he had a lot of learning to do. He did not know much of the God who called him. He traveled. He camped. He built altars. He sought to know his God. After some time the Lord appeared to him and in the vision He told him “I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” Think of that! What does it mean? I meditated upon this declaration by God. I thought almost immediately of the word “protection.” Because when I think of a shield, I think of being protected. But as I meditated I realized that this meant much, much more. 

Consider the following thoughts with me. 

First, God says “I am….” He didn’t say “here is a shield to protect you. Do your best with it, use it when needed. Here, take it and hold onto it.” No. He said, “I am your shield. Abram, I am going to take care of you.” Think of that marvelous promise. I am your shield. 

​Then he followed by saying, “I am … your exceeding great reward.” This is beyond awesome. Notice, God did not say to Abraham I am going to reward you or you will receive rewards. God said to Abraham, “I am your exceeding great reward.” 

I believe God says the same to us as well. Imagine! God is saying, “Here I am. I am yours. I will take care of you and by the way, I am your reward, no I am your exceeding great reward.” Unbelievable, but so true!

​So how does Abram handle this gracious revelation? Unfortunately I think he handled it as many of us do in our own lives. What does Abram do? Get this. This is crazy. But I know we do it as well. Abram says, “Wow, this is cool. I think I like this. OK, what will you give me? Now wait just a minute. Do you see what happened? I don’t believe it was wrong for Abram to ask God for something. I believe God wants us to ask. I just believe that sometimes we forget that God had just given him the greatest gift possible. The most valuable thing that any human could ever have is GOD HIMSELF! And in essence, God had told Abram, “I am yours. I am your exceeding great reward. “But it seems that Abram looked right past ALL that great truth and said, “Give me something.” Does that sound familiar? Isn’t that just like we are? – always asking for things when we have the Greatest of ALL! God Himself, saying I am yours. 

​But wait, look at our text again. Abram said, “I want a child and here is this slave that was born in my house, so I will just take him.” Again! That is just too crazy. In a sense he seems to be bargaining with God for something LESS than God wanted him to have. He was saying, “God, I will settle for Eliezer since I have no son of my own and since Eliezer was born in my house – what about him?

​Abram was not a bad man. God didn’t rush him to the proverbial “woodshed” but he did get him out of his tent to help Abram see the greatness of God as he viewed the stars in the heavens. “Count the stars.” He just needed to get to know the Lord better. He had to learn to know Him and trust him. And we must do the same! 

So what can we learn from this? First, realize what we have with God. Don’t rush past God asking for something LESS. Don’t settle for Eliezer when God wants to take care of you, be your exceeding great reward and give you exceedingly more than you could ask or think. 

​God says, “I am your shield, and your exceeding great reward.” I say, I want YOU God! I want YOU! What do you say?