God told Abram that he would make him into a great nation (see Genesis 12:2), and his descendants would be as numerous as the sands on the seashore (see Genesis 22:17).
Even with our best calculators, this number would be virtually impossible to calculate. God’s promise to Abram required an act of obedience-to abandon the comforts of his home in Ur and set out on a pilgrimage to a land that he had never visited. Scary, huh? To leave family. To kiss friends goodbye. To travel unaware of what lies around the next mountain. Yet Abram discovered that the reward of obeying God is always greater than the cost. The destination is always worth the risks of departure. Abram’s pilgrimage resulted in the establishing of the Jewish nation-a nation upon which God would shower blessings and a land that He would saturate with abundance.
Many years later, there would be another pilgrimage. Only this time it was Jesus Christ who covered the distance. From the heights of heaven to the depths of earth, God Himself embarked on a love mission to make right what sin had corrupted. Each grain of sand-each person in the world-has the freedom to accept Christ’s generous gift of grace. No spec is too small. No grain is too lost. And the journey is well worth the reward.