Small beginnings
Genesis 15:5-6 NASB
5 And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
It’s hard to believe in something we cannot yet see.
I think every good gardener plants and sows without knowing whether the seeds they sow will ever amount to anything. Recently we planted a few apple trees that, to be honest, looked more like sticks than trees. They weren’t impressive, and there was no guarantee they would make it. But after a few days, the tiniest leaves began to appear. Small signs of life—just enough to stir hope that one day those sticks might become strong, fruit-bearing trees.
Faith often begins like that.
When God spoke to Abram, He asked him to believe something that seemed impossible. Abram was old, and he had no children. Yet God brought him outside and told him to look up at the night sky and count the stars—if he could. Then God made a promise: “So shall your descendants be.”
Abraham couldn’t see how it would happen. But Scripture tells us something simple and powerful: he believed the Lord.
Abraham’s story reminds us that faith is not about our perfection or our strength. Abraham himself had moments of doubt and failure. Instead, faith is about trusting the God who speaks and keeps His promises. There was nothing special about Abraham, he simply had a listening ear.
We live in a world that makes it hard to admit that we are not strong. We don’t list our weaknesses; instead, we make resumes. We project our strengths onto others. But Jesus and His Kingdom work differently—not through power or might.
Here is what Jesus says in His most recognized sermon, the Sermon on the Mount:
Matthew 5:3 NASB
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
You are blessed when you can humbly admit your poverty in spirit—when you can acknowledge your need for Jesus and His forgiveness.
Yes, it is humbling. I have thought myself to be in the right many times, but every time I’m proven wrong, it humbles me. It seems like many of those moments happen with my wife—don’t ask me why. I’ve even had moments where I was wrong with my sons, and asking for their forgiveness has humbled me deeply.
God has a track record of using the weak—the foolish things of this world. Following Jesus often looks like foolishness, especially in our culture today. And it certainly looked like foolishness with Abraham: trusting God that, even at an old age, he and Sarah would have a son. At the end of his life—when, as Paul says, Sarah’s womb was as good as dead.
In the end, the story of Scripture is not really about remarkable people—it is about a remarkably faithful God.
Sometimes faith looks small. It looks like quiet trust, simple obedience, sowing seeds of generosity, or prayers offered when we cannot yet see the outcome. It may not look impressive at first—more like planting sticks in the ground than building something great.
But God has always been in the business of growing something beautiful from small beginnings.
So today, keep trusting Him. Even when the signs seem small. Even when the promise feels far away.
Because the God who asked Abraham to look at the stars is still faithful today.
