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Does your theology make room for that? 

The smoking furnace signified the affliction of his seed. 
The burning lamp denotes comfort in this affliction. 
Light denoted deliverance out of the furnace and the lamp denotes direction in the smoke. 

God is the lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.   Do you know that some of the greatest saints of God go through periods of spiritual darkness?  It is not necessarily a mark of immaturity or weakness to go through darkness.  In fact, God cannot trust the immature and weak with that kind of experience. God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things!   He knows just how much each one of us can endure.  Abram did not go through the darkness because of weakness, but because it was part of his total spiritual experience.  His darkness was a preview of what his descendants were to suffer in Egypt.  As their father, he had to share a measure of their suffering.

In verses 13-16, the Lord explains to Abram what is going to happen to his descendants in Egypt, and how ultimately He will intervene and deliver them and bring them back to the land of Canaan.  Then in verse 17, a new dimension is added to Abrams experience:


"And it came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces." 

God ratified the covenant to give Abram his sign.  God  promised comfort and direction to Abram for his seed.   To the normal darkness of night is added the blackness of smoke belching from an oven. 

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