Any time a man gets serious about God, all hell will break loose.

You have probably experienced this in your own life.

Drift along in a self-centered culture and all is peace and ease.

Turn toward God and you will experience immediate turbulence.

Abram found this out when walking with God.

Abram is called out of his own smaller story and into the story of God. He is called from sight to faith, certainty to trust, idolatry to worship. The seeds of his obedience still bear fruit in lives today.

Genesis chapter 15 has one of the most remarkable encounters of a man meeting God. God appears to Abram and reassures his heart: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward." And in a breathtaking meeting, God takes him outside and says, "Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

God then commands him to lay out a sacrifice to establish a covenant.

Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two, and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 

This is the moment of consecration. This is the moment of sealing the promise, of confirming the covenant. This is the moment his whole life will be entrusted into the hands of God. This is the great "I do" of the human heart with the divine.

This moment will be resisted.

Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses…

THEN BIRDS OF PREY CAME DOWN.

This is a potent phrase.

The vultures come for the sacrifice. The vultures come to steal the inheritance. The vultures come to peck away at what belonged to another.

The vultures will come for you too. They will seek to sabotage the covenant and corrupt the consecration.

The birds of prey will come for whatever you lay before God.

The vultures of consumerism will come to steal your generosity.

The vultures of lust will come to steal your holiness.

The vultures of power will come to steal your humility.

The vultures of selfishness will come to steal your sacrifice.

The vultures of distraction will come to steal your focus.

The best intentions of modern men are picked away by the vultures of the age who descend on their dreams while they passively sit by and watch their inheritance stolen. Slowly but surely, what we lay before God with good intentions gets picked away piece by piece, until all that is left are memories of devotion from our younger years.

Abram isn’t going out like that.

Verse 11 continues:

Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

Abram knew he had to contend for his inheritance. He knew that faith came with a fight, and that passivity meant disaster. Abram wanted the promise. Abram drove the vultures away.

Learn from his example. Drive the vultures away.

You can’t afford a contaminated sacrifice.

You can’t afford to let the birds of prey consume what has cost you so much.

You can’t let the birds of prey come for your heart, your love, your devotion. You can’t let the birds of prey come for your wife, your kids, your family, or your inheritance.

DRIVE THEM AWAY.

Drive them away with faith.

Drive them away with the word.

Drive them away with prayer.

Drive them away with spiritual disciplines.

Drive them away for the reward that God has promised.

CONSECRATION IS THE KEY TO OBTAINING WHAT GOD HAS PROMISED

Verse 17 reads: "When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram."

God promises Abram a son.

God promises territory.

God tells him of his destiny.

The birds are gone; the blessing has come.

NAME YOUR VULTURES

This week, pay attention to the things seeking to rob your devotion to God.

They may be small distractions, things that pick and peck at the commitments you have made. They may be temptations to major compromise, to give up, let go, or forget.

Drive them away, even if you are discouraged or tired.

Drive them away, even if you are confused about what to do next.

Drive them away, even if you see others give in.

You too will find that God is still a shield and great reward.

Cheers.

Jon.