February 15, 2026

In last week’s lesson, God called Abraham to leave his home for the promised land when Abraham was seventy-five years old. And God promised him, if he did so, he would have both the land and a son. In today’s lesson, Abraham is in the land, but his family lived in only a small part of it. And he had his wife, but he still had no son. Abraham was now much older, and he began to wonder, “Will God really keep his promise to do the impossible? How?” God knew the doubts Abraham was having. So, one dark night, God brought Abraham outside and said, “Look up, and count the stars, if you are able to count them. I will give you as many children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren as there are stars in the sky” (see Gen. 15:5). Abraham believed God. He took him at his word. Listen to this amazing verse: Abraham “believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness” (15:6). God was not done. He reminded Abraham of his promise to give him the land. Abraham replied, “Lord, how am I to know that you will give me the land?” (see 15:8). Then God did something strange. He had Abraham cut a bunch of animals in half. (Why? More on that in a minute!) After Abraham cut the animals, God had him fall into a deep sleep and he showed Abraham the future: after four hundred years of slavery, Abraham’s offspring would inherit the land. God could be trusted to keep his word. To show how sure his promise was, God made a covenant with Abraham. To understand this better, we have to go back to those animals Abraham cut in half. In those days, this was part of a process of making a deal—or cutting a covenant. Whoever walked through the animals was promising to keep his end of the bargain, or else be torn apart like the cut-up goats and cows. Can you guess what God did? God walked through the cut-up animals! In other words, God was making a very serious promise. He would keep his word. What amazing grace! After such an amazingly gracious promise, God asked Abraham to show that he believed. He asked him to show it through a special sign called circumcision. This special sign would remind all his family after him that they were chosen and loved. Do you know what Abraham did? He trusted God and obeyed.