Genesis 15:6 And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him as righteousness.
The word of the Lord came to Abram in verse 1, but Abram questioned God and doubted. The Lord responded to Abram’s unbelief: ”the word of the Lord came unto him” a second time. He contradicted his doubt with the promise again: ”No, your servant is not your heir, but your heir shall come from your own body; indeed, your seed shall be as the number of the stars.” This time Abram’s response was faith: ”he believed in the Lord.” This was the response the Lord was seeking.
Through the very words of the Gospel Promise faith is engendered. This belief had to be a miraculous work of God the Holy Spirit. To the human mind what God promised was impossible: he and Sarai were old and barren and yet they were to have as many children as the stars! And Abram believed that! This kind of “impossible” faith could only have been worked in him by the Spirit of God.
This was now the third and fourth time the Lord appeared to Abram and spoke the Promise, He believed and obeyed the first and second time, doubted the third time, but believed unto righteousness the fourth time. Abram is righteous! Paul quotes this verse in the NT to make it clear that faith, not works, makes us righteous. Believe the Gospel: you are counted as righteous.
Why did Abram doubt God the first time He spoke in this chapter? And why did he believe the second time? Why? First, humans always doubt and misbelieve, and second, God’s Love overcomes unbelief and creates faith. And since faith and doubt are often mixed in our hearts, the persistent love of God comes to speak His Gospel to us again and again. For this reason we are moved to go to church every week, to hear again, to believe again, to be forgiven and saved again. Renewed faith keeps life going and growing.