In the Star Wars movie “The Empire Strikes Back,” the Jedi master Yoda raises Luke Skywalker’s ship out of the Dagobah swamp using nothing but the force. Stunned by the feat, Luke exclaims, “I don’t believe it!” To which Yoda responds, “That is why you fail.”
Yoda’s words are not only a rebuke to Luke Skywalker but to all who hear them. So often we fail to achieve because we fail to believe.
The importance of belief is key to Genesis chapter 15. In this chapter, God promises Abram generations of descendants and a land to call his own, but Abram was an elderly, childless vagabond with no land to his name. There was absolutely no visible reason to believe what God had told him.
Still, Abram chose to believe God over his circumstances. He chose to trust more in what God said than in what he (Abram) saw. Genesis 15:6 NLT says, “Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him righteous because of his faith.”
Abram believed what God said, and it unleashed a power greater than any lightsaber. Nothing changed immediately, but everything changed completely.
How would your life be different if you really believed what God has told you? What freedom would you know and what power would be unleashed if you trusted God completely?
Bret Legg is the Teaching and Counseling Pastor at Warren Baptist Church in Augusta, GA.