“And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are— northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.” Genesis 13:14-15 NKJV

I love these two verses. Two sentences. Simple. A statement from God. And yet contained in these 44 words is a promise so vast it boggles ones mind.

God made a promise in these words to help Abram, soon to be Abraham, grab hold of a future plan. Abram could not understand the magnitude of this promise in its entirety for he had to live it out in order to even begin to grasp its scope. No Abram would never in his lifetime understand completely what God was handing to him in these two sentences.

You and I however are a different story. If you look at the Bible not simply as a lot of unrelated stories but as a love letter from our Father in heaven, you can begin to unwrap a beautiful gift from God meant to encourage and catapult you too into a future bright with promise.

God’s promise to Abram is a gift for all mankind. When the Lord promised Abram not only all the land around him that his eye could see, but soon after that his descendants would outnumber the stars in the sky, He was including us in these promises. You see, you and I are one of Abram’s descendants. As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we gained access to the promises of Abram!

Now the story can be read in a whole new light. God’s word is eternal so now I can read this Scripture figuratively as, “Linda (or insert your name here), lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are— northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.”

God wants each of us to lift our eyes now and look from the place where you are. What are you facing? Hard times? Disputes? Family issues? Financial stress? Health issues? It doesn’t really matter, you can insert whatever you may be facing. The point is the Lord has given us, each and every one of us, the ability to grab hold of something else other than what we are currently facing.

Abram was left with a piece of less than desirable land after he allowed Lot to choose where he wanted to live. He could have fumed and whined, even if only to himself, about this turn of events. “Oh great! How am I going to raise all my livestock on this piece of bare land? That ungrateful Lot! He could have at least left me a portion of the well-watered land.” On and on he could have railed about the situation. But Abram was willing to take the land that Lot rejected, whatever he chose, so there would be no strife between their families.

And it is right there that God showed up and made the promise to Abram. “Lift your eyes from this situation and see what I’ve given you. It is more than you might think and it is enough so that you may thrive in all I’m providing for you. It might look like the lesser of the lands. But trust Me. There, off in those places, is my provision for you!”

Lift your eyes from your current situation. Look around you. What, or even perhaps who, has the Lord placed in your path to help you realize there’s so much more? “More what,” you might ask? Simply more. Our Lord is a God of provision, so much so, it is even one of His many names: Jehovah-jireh, meaning God will provide.

God provides. The answer. The way through. The health, relationship, or financial means to get to the other side. Sometimes it’s just insight to help us see past our current place. Past the hurt. Past the habit so desperately needed be left behind. Past our current state of affairs.

Lift your eyes and look around. He has provided the way through. Step into it…you will only realize it as you move, one step at a time, from here…to there!