Promise 32 Gen. 15:4-5

Gen. 15:4-5 - "Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying. 'This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.' 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.'" Have you ever found yourself grumbling at God, thinking that He wasn't really listening, or in response to a remark in your mind, not realizing it was God? We all do it! We all talk to ourselves, our minds go almost non-stop, full of conversation and interaction; either re-living past conversations with people, or trying to change these conversations to what they should've been, or we are thinking of future interactions with people or we are simply thinking on whatever pops into our minds. I don't know about you, but I have a hard time shutting that off. So here is Abram, a thought comes in his head 'Do not fear Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great." (vs.1) Does he really realize that this is God speaking to him or does he "daydream God in a vision?" Kind of like he is congratulating himself for being obedient (earlier), but thinking this is what he would hope that God would say to him. So here's his grumble; 'Yeah right God, what could you possibly give me? You haven't given me what I really want, and that's children. What could you possibly want to give me that is better than that?" Then suddenly God snaps him to attention and responds to him. The verse says, "Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him..." It's the same as "Then what d'ya know, then God spoke back". God responded to his grumblings, but He didn't say, "Ah Abram, stop your whining, get a grip, stop dreaming, get back to your work and focus on your task at hand." No, God heard the cries of Abram's heart, his longing. It doesn't matter if Abram really intended for God to hear it or not, but God did, and because of His great love for Abram, He promised him that he would dry the tears of his heart and will give him the children that he so desires to have. God does hear the cries of our heart, He will respond to them. The greatest point in this is not in the message of His response but in the heart of the Responder.