Scene: Someone with insomnia at a campsite, who has gone out of their tent to look up at the night sky

Jock Stein August 12, 2025 3 0

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Genesis 15: 1-6 (NIVUK)

15 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.’ 2 But Abram said, ‘O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’ 3 And Abram said, ‘You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.’ 4 But the word of the Lord came to him, ‘This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.’ 5 He brought him outside and said, ‘Look towards heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ 6 And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness

A camper (let’s call him Stephen), unable to sleep, has gone outside his tent to look at the night sky. Happily, it is not raining and the stars are shining clear and bright. He has a Bible and a torch.

Genesis 15:1-6 . . .

Why Stephen chose this passage is none of our business. Strange things happen at night. Maybe his Bible just fell open. Stephen reflects:

“I’ve read how many stars there are, but I’m just like Abram. He saw a different sky from the Middle East, but still just a fraction of them all. Enough to know that God was promising him something extraordinary. What is God saying to me, I wonder? I’m, like, a descendant of Abraham, if Paul got it right. And there are millions of us, and perhaps millions to come – if we’re spared, as my Grampa used to say.”

Stephen then trips over a guy rope, clutching his Bible but dropping his torch. No moon, and the starlight isn’t enough for him to find it.

“Here I am, with a Bible but no torch, so I can’t read any more. Abram was like that, no Bible, but he heard the voice of God. And God spoke to him through the stars. Through light travelling all that way – nine years it takes from Sirius, a million years from the Milky Way. But God is the maker of time and space, so I suppose he would enjoy that kind of illustration.”

Stephen stands for a minute, and keeps thinking:

“All these descendants. And especially, Jesus. Same race as Abram, but Saviour of the human race. People like me, in every country. Saviour of those at war. Do the stars fight? I know they blow up, or fizzle out, eventually. And we all die, sooner or later, quickly or slowly. I’ve read that our bodies are stardust. But I know God was telling Abram we are more than that.”

You’ll be glad to know that Stephen eventually found his way back to his tent and got to sleep.

PRAY:

God, I’m grateful to be counted as one of your children, part of the family of your Son, true descendant of Abraham your friend. Amen.

And remember in prayer those on holiday or in the midst of a journey.