Abraham. Genesis 15:4-6

Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens 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.

Genesis is a good place to start, given the task I set myself. Not only because it is the first book, but because there are a large number of characters to choose from. I rather liked Abraham for is apparently quite simple and easy faith. I was rather struck with the way he just chats to God on a regular basis, and in contrast to a lot of people demanding signs/miracles etc when God speaks, Abraham on a regular basis seems just to say “ok God, that’ll happen if you say so”. I particularly like this whole bit about him being the father of nations and endless decendants – its a big promise, which Abraham isn’t going to see the fruits of in his lifetime – although he will get to see Isaac as an initial step in it’s fulfillment. Yet Abraham believed the Lord without ever really questioning it. (Although he does ask about the possession of the land promised a few verses later.) Abraham wasn’t perfect by any means. A couple of times he pretends his wife is his sister when in foreign lands (rather than letting God sort out any problems) and was quite happy to come up with his own solution (well, his wife’s idea) with regards to the having an heir thing by way of Hagar (Genesis 16). But then again, Abraham had to do his bit anyway for Isaac to show up so it wasn’t completely insane that he should have to do something about the fulfillment of God’s promise, and God doesn’t seem that miffed by Abraham’s attempts either. So today’s photo is about Abraham for having a straight-forward faith in God.

The photo

Rather obvious. I bet Abraham didn’t have the same problem with light pollution!

18mm @ f3.5 30s ISO 800