Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring"... Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. (Gen 15,3.5-6)

If we are trapped in our "ohs", God must bring us out! There, Abram was offered a view of the vast Middle Eastern night sky, in which the stars could be seen more clearly than in our countries and seemed closer. "So shall your descendants be." God did not change his mind during the conversation with Abram, it was Abram who finally changed his mind, and at least for the moment he believed God that what He said would happen.

It is a key sentence of Scripture on which Paul later built the New Testament justification by faith and proved that it was not new but very old theology. But how did Abram understand that then?

Abram had frankly no idea about theology. If you wanted to talk to him e.g. about the trinity of God, he wouldn't understand much about what you were talking about. (But the difference might be that the triune God did remain with him...) But during the conversation with God, Abram understood how much God longed him to believe that He would fulfill His word — and when it happened that God likes that. However, Abram could not understand the notion of justice theologically as we understand it today under the influence of the New Testament.

Not only did Abram have no idea about theology, but also about linguistics. The terms he used took their meanings from common language. "Righteous" in ancient times referred to one who is worthy of acknowledgement, respect, who acts honestly, is trustworthy, upright. Abram knew, like everyone else, about his past failures. However, the moment he believed God, God made it clear to him that it meant such a great thing that he attributed a new quality to Abram: he saw him as "righteous." Abram could have been surprised, wondering why God cared so much about it? Doesn't it mean more how Abram specifically behaves (and in the end, is it actually not more difficult)?