Genesis 15:12
Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him.
In today's devotional so much takes place before hand. In the prior chapter, Abram's nephew Lot was taken captive by a combined army that belonged to a group of greedy kings. This army would attack different lands raiding, stealing, and taking captives. We are talking anywhere from fifty to one hundred thousand soldiers. When Abram received the news of his nephew Lot, he gathered his servants to fight for his nephews freedom. Now we are talking a total of three hundred and eight men from Abram's household. Abram and his servants ambushed and drove away that very large army, and then went about returning the loot to its rightful owners. Never excepting payment for what The Lord did through him. Even after all of that victory Abram still had fear and lacked confidence that God would fulfill His promise through Abram's heirs.
God responds to Abram with a sneak peek of what is in store for both him and his children. Early in the morning while the stars were still in the sky, God gives Abram orders to perform some sacrifices. Abram sets his whole day planing, preparing and praying. God keeps His people in waiting that we may be sure of our own faith in Him. God's answer of prayer, and performances of promises come slowly, yet surely. Then God prepares Abram. By putting him in a deep sleep, much like Adams deep sleep when God created Eve. Now we are getting to the part of the verse that I thought was interesting...and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. We are children of light, however that doesn't mean we won't have to walk through some dark scary times. There are some false prosperity theology that teaches opposite of this. However if we look toward Father Moses, Faithful Abraham, all of the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and all the disciples; they all had to walk in dark and scary times. Holy fear prepares the soul for Holy joy. The Spirit of bondage makes way for the Spirit of adoption. God wounds first then heals, humbles then lifts up. Do not let those dark times filled with horror, and great fear rob you of your inheritance from God.