Every morning, I wake up and take our two dogs downstairs for breakfast and a walk. And every morning, the first thing our Golden Retriever (Nala) does when she gets downstairs is to flop on her back for a belly rub.

In nature, animals have an instinct to protect the vulnerable parts of their bodies. No animal should be flopping on their backs for a belly rub! Yet there she is, every morning, flopped on her back.

It is because she trusts me. Because she feels safe. Because we have a promise going…   a friendship…   and she trusts that I will take care of her.

It is so difficult and scary to trust isn’t it? For us to really trust other people we necessarily have to make ourselves vulnerable. We can’t be in protection/defensive mode all the time. So, we rely on promises…   whether spoken or unspoken, that we will protect, value, trust, and care for one another.

Since a promise is a pledge of mutual understanding and trust so that we can feel safe and secure with the other even when we are at our most vulnerable, it’s no surprise that the breaking of a promise, the betrayal of a trust, is among the most painful and heartbreaking experiences. We not only get hurt in our vulnerable places…   but at the hands of someone we trusted.

When God promised blessing to Abraham, God called Abraham into a vulnerable position: to leave the land, family, wealth, security, and familiarity he was accustomed to for a new place and a new promise at the end of a long new journey:

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ² I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3)

The Good News is that God is a faithful promise-maker and promise-keeper. Abraham went down in Biblical history as a man of great faith because he made himself vulnerable and trusted God with his life and livelihood. In return, God indeed richly blessed Abraham…   and the world through him: Abraham is the father of the Israelites who are the heritage people of our Christian faith.

What blessing is God ready to release in our lives as we open ourselves more and more to trust in God’s promises?