Abraham. There’s this neat connection between Abraham’s story and wonder. Particularly, the parts of wonder that have to do with considering and looking. As a bonus, we find these verbs woven into the dialogue (see yesterday’s post) between Abraham and God. I mean, it’s like he did it on purpose.
I’m going to be a nerd for one minute. There are two Hebrew verbs for wonder within these passages: nabat and ra’a. Today, we are going to focus on nabat, meaning “to consider, to look at”. I hope you come back tomorrow as we look at ra’a. It’s so good.
In Genesis 15, we find an elderly, childless Abraham in a conversation with God. God promises Abraham a great reward. Abraham reminds God that he doesn’t have any offspring yet. In response, God leads Abraham outside and says, “Look (nabat) toward the heavens and count the stars—if you can! Your descendants will be that many.” The passage says that Abraham believed, and it was counted to him as righteousness.
Can you imagine the visual? A clear night away from city lights, stars stretching across the sky. You try to keep your place as you begin to count each one. “1, 2, 3… 4 I think. Wait. No, that’s two stars. 4, 5… never mind,” you concede out loud. The grandeur begins to fill your heart with a dream.
I love this invitation from God to Abraham. He doesn’t just tell Abraham the promise; he displays it for him. An image now burned in his mind’s eye and heart. God gives Abraham something to look at, something to consider (nabat).
It’s an important piece of Abraham’s journey of faith. I’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating. We are made in the image of God. God sees, and he understands our need to see. In this case, he met Abraham and engaged him in the process to spur on his faith a little further.
Tomorrow we will look at another piece of wonder in Abraham’s journey that makes my heart certain of God more than ever.
I don’t know where you are in your journey of faith, but I know God sees you. He is inviting you into the wonder of his promise. Talk with him; he will meet you.
Jesus, thank you. Thank you for filling up the night sky with promises. Thank you for meeting us where we are and inviting us into the wonder.
Brave Sparrow 
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