After all these things, this word of God came to Abram in a vision: "Don't be afraid, Abram. I'm your shield. Your reward will be grand!"...God said to Abram, "Know this: your descendants will live as outsiders in a land not theirs; they'll be enslaved and beaten down for 400 years. Then I'll punish their slave masters; your offspring will march out of there loaded with plunder. But not you; you'll have a long and full life and die a good and peaceful death. Not until the fourth generation will your descendants return here; sin is still a thriving business among the Amorites."
God is good and gives us more than we deserve. However, sometimes God doesn't answer the way we expect. Take Abram for instance, from God's very voice he knew that his faithfulness would be rewarded. But as Abram gave offerings to God and God continued to speak, it quickly became clear that God's timeline for this reward would not come for many generations. If I were Abram, I might be inclined to question God about the dreary report He said my family will have for 400 years! But I suppose Abram's faith in God and God's plan was strong enough that he knew God was in control and to be trusted.
I hope that if God gives me a "dreary report" of what is to come for my life (doesn't scripture already give us a less-than-hopeful glimpse of what is to come?) that I'll simply seek Him more as I trust His love for me to outweigh any obstacles that come.
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