Same Passage, Unexpected Flavour

I'm often amazed when I read familiar passages and the LORD helps me see them from a fresh perspective.  As one who cycles through familiar recipes for dinner or baking, my family grows accustomed to textures and flavours.  Many times over the years I have had comments--not that the food was good or bad--but that the flavour was different.  It has come to the point if I realise there is a difference than the usual offering, I will notify my family beforehand that I am aware of a difference because I did not have the usual ingredients on hand or made a substitution to spice things up.

Having read through the Bible numerous times and studied it in depth, a familiarity can grow with passages in God's word, our daily bread.  Today was a day when a familiar passage hit me differently, similar to a unexpected twist of flavour in a favourite dish.  I read the chapter when God spoke with Abram in Genesis 15 and said, "Do not fear, Abram.  I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward."  In response, Abram expressed concern God had not given him a son, so he lacked an heir.  Genesis 15:5-6 reads, "Then He brought him outside and said, "Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." ⁶ And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness."

As the passage unfolds, God promised to give Abram the land who wondered by what means he would know he would inherit it.  God told him to prepare a heifer, ram, goat, turtledove and pigeon to cut a covenant with Abram.  Verse 12 begins by saying, "And when the sun was going down...".  The flow of the passage during my reading suggested this chapter took place on the same day, and if that was the case God told Abram to look to heaven and count the stars when they were not even visible due to sunlight.  Now it is entirely possible these events happened on different days when stars were visible, for the Bible is not an exhaustive account of everything that happened every day:  God in His wisdom simply tells us all we need to know.

Some might say, "It's ridiculous to say God told Abram to count the stars when they weren't even visible.  That's impossible!"  Yes, it is.  It was also impossible for Abram to count the stars in the dead of night, for that was the whole purpose of this divine exercise.  Whether it was day or night it is of small consequence, for Abram was prompted by God to do the impossible and believe God would do the impossible by His miraculous power:  to cause barren Sarai to give birth in due time.  There was no physical evidence Sarai would give birth because she was not pregnant, and it would not be until her menstrual cycle ceased and Abram was impotent that God would cause Isaac miraculously to be conceived and born.  Abram believed God, and God accounted his faith in Him for righteousness.

Reading the Bible and thinking it through works to clear away assumptions and preconceived ideas we did not realise we had.  God opens our eyes with a fresh perspective to see things we never saw before and grow in faith and appreciation of the Most High God who does the impossible and accounts faith in Him as righteousness.  God can use a familiar passage to hold forth the same everlasting truth with an unexpected flavour that really hits the spot.