Genesis 15:7, 8
And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?

I like the honesty of Abram here.

The Lord reminds him who He is. “I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.” In other words, Abram, do not forget where I found you, and do not forget that I am the One who called you out and brought you this far.

And Abram answers, “Whereby shall I know?”

That sounds a lot like the man in Mark 9:24 who said, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” Abram believes, but there is still a trembling spot in him. He trusts God, yet he still wants assurance.

And that is striking, coming right on the heels of verse 6. Abram believed in the Lord, and it was counted to him for righteousness. His faith was real, but we can already see how small and shallow it still was. It was mustard seed faith. True faith, but trembling faith. And that makes the grace of God here all the more wonderful.

What amazes me is not Abram’s question as much as God’s patience with it. By now, you would think the Lord might say, Abram, how many times do I have to tell you? I told you I would be your reward, and you asked what I would give you. I told you your own son would be your heir, and you kept struggling. I told you I would give you this land, and now you want proof.

If I were God, I think I might have said, That is enough, Abram.

But thank God I am not God.

Our Father is so patient. He does not walk away from Abram. He does not cast him off because his faith still has questions in it. He keeps walking with him. He keeps speaking to him. He keeps working through him.

That comforts me deeply, because it means the presence of questions does not cancel the reality of faith. Abram is not an unbeliever here. He is a believer who is still learning to trust more deeply. And the Lord deals with him tenderly.

That is still the way the Lord deals with us.

There are times when I believe, but I still need help.
There are times when I trust the Lord, but part of me still asks, How will I know?
There are moments when faith is real, but it is not yet restful.

And the beautiful thing is this: God does not abandon His people in that place. Even when giants of the faith struggle, He continues to walk with them and work through them.