In the opening verse of this chapter, we have a principle fraught with comfort and encouragement to us--a principle eminently calculated to call out into full exercise a spirit of true devotedness to the Lord. We observe here, the Lord's grace in acknowledging and accepting the sacrifice laid upon His altar--the willing offering of the devoted heart of His servant. Our God is never slow in owning such things, nor in rewarding them a hundredfold. Abram had just been manifesting a spirit of self-denial in refusing the attractive offers of the King of Sodom. He had refused to be enriched from such a source, and had taken "the Most High God" for his portion and his reward, therefore the Lord comes forth to confirm the soul of his servant with these words, "Fear not, Abram, I AM thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward." "God is not unrighteous to forget the work and labor of love" (Heb. vi. 10). A similar principle is presented to us in chapter xiii. where Abram is seen giving way to Lot, in the matter of choosing the land. Abram's whole anxiety in that matter was about the Lord's honor, as maintained in the harmonious walk of "_brethren_" before the "Canaanite and the Perizzite." "Let there be no strife," says he, "between me and thee ... _for we be brethren_." Nor did Abram desire to suppress the strife, by _exacting concessions_ from Lot. No; he was willing to concede everything himself--to surrender every claim--to sacrifice every advantage, provided the strife were suppressed. "Is not the _whole land_ before thee?" _Take_ what you please--possess yourself of the fairest spot in all the region round about. Here, as some one has observed, is the liberality--the unselfishness of faith. What was land to Abram in comparison with the Lord's glory? Nothing. He could give up anything, or everything, for that. How then does the Lord meet this self-sacrifice on the part of His servant? Just as He does in this xv. chapter, by coming in, in the plenitude of His goodness, to make it up to him a hundredfold. "Lift up _now_ thine eyes ... for _all the land which thou seest_ to thee will I give it, and to thy seed after thee" (xiii. 14, 15). How truly gracious it is of the Lord to enable His servant to make a sacrifice for Him, and then reward that sacrifice by a vast increase of blessing. Such are His ways--His ever adorable ways.
We are now called to trace in Abram the development of a feature which, in a special manner, demonstrates the high order of his communion with God. After all God's revelations and promises to him, his soul still breathes after an object without which all besides was defective. True, he had surveyed, with the eye of faith, the promised inheritance--the magnificent gift of divine benevolence; yet, notwithstanding all this, was there a great desideratum--a mighty blank. He sighed for a SON. A son _alone_ could render complete, in Abram's estimation, all his previous privileges. "And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and _the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus_. And Abram said, Behold to me thou hast given no seed: and lo, _one born in my house_ is mine heir" (vers. 2, 3). Now, we have, in tracing the path of this remarkable man, beheld him, at times, displaying some very noble features of character. His generosity--his high elevation of mind--his pilgrim-like habits--all these things denote a man of the very highest order; yet I hesitate not to say, that we find him, in the passage just quoted, exhibiting a temper of soul, more in harmony with the mind of heaven than anything we have met hitherto. Abram desired to have his house enlivened by the cry of a child. He had been long enough conversant with the spirit of bondage breathed by "the steward of his house," but the titles of _lord_ and _master_, though all very good in their place, could not satisfy the heart of Abram, for Abram had been taught of God, and God ever instructs His children in those things which He loves, and which He exhibits in His dealings with them. And I would just observe, in connection with this, that we see in the case of the prodigal in Luke xv., the development of a principle very much in connection with what we have been saying. He says, in the very midst of all his misery "I will arise and go unto my Father, and will say unto him, _Father_." Here we have a fine feature in the character of this poor wanderer. He had such a sense of the grace of him against whom he had sinned, that he could yet say "_Father_" notwithstanding his long course of rebellion and folly.