“I love you, honey! I’ll give you the moon and the stars!” How
wonderful it is to hear a statement like that! That kind of promise is music to
a lover’s ears. It belongs right next to statements like “I’ll flood you with
diamonds,” and “I’ll never ever leave you, not even for one second!” Those are
wonderful, loving statements; but we all know that none of them is literally
true. I doubt very much if anyone could really give me the moon and stars, even
if I wanted them. Flooding me with diamonds is a lovely sentiment, but somewhat
out of most people’s price range. As for never, ever leaving me, not even for a
second… At some point, I will want to take a shower; and then having someone
attached to my side will be a little bit inconvenient. Promises like these
eventually have to give way to reality. If someone persists in making promises
like this, we start wondering if a trip to the psychotherapist might be in
order!
Abram must have felt a little bit like that when God
continued to make promises without a shred of proof to back them up. (Abram, by
the way, was Abraham’s original name. God changes it in Genesis 17; and we’re
not quite there yet.) Abram first encountered this generous God back in
northern Mesopotamia, after his father’s family had left the city of Ur and
settled in Haran. One day, while Abram was tending his flocks and his herds,
God showed up and told him to clear out of Haran and head for… well, somewhere.
God wasn’t really clear about Abram’s ultimate destination. But God promised
that Abram would know it when he saw it. In addition to that, God promised to
make Abram’s descendents into a great nation; so great that he would bless everyone
on earth! So Abram left Haran.
When Abram got to the land of Canaan, God showed up again
and told Abram that all this land was
going to belong to his descendents one day. Fair enough. And while Abram lived
in Canaan, he did all right for himself. He made a good living with his herds
and flocks; and he even had a nice nest egg of gold and silver set aside for
his old age – which was coming fairly quickly. Abram had, after all, been 75
years old when he left Haran; and he wasn’t getting any younger.
Abram heard from God a third time after Abram had a falling-out
with his nephew Lot. God repeated the promise that Abram’s descendants would be
as numerous as the dust of the earth; and that they would own all the land
wherever Abram walked. And Abram, for his part, continued to build altars and
sacrifice to this God who made such generous promises.
But by the time that we reach this text in Genesis, God’s
promises were wearing just a little thin. And so, the fourth time that God
showed up promising Abram the moon and the stars, Abram raised his hand and
said, “Wait a minute, God. I have a question. This all sounds really great; but
I don’t have any children. So far, Eliezar of Damasus is my heir. It’s even
possible that one of my slaves will inherit my property. It certainly won’t be
any son of mine; because I don’t even have
a son. Have you considered that little detail? I just don’t see how you’re
going to work this out. Could you give me just a little bit more information?” Can
we blame him? Abram has left home and family and moved to a land that he knows
nothing about. Oh, he has become wealthy enough; but he doesn’t have any
children – neither a son nor a daughter. And by the way – there are other
people living in that land that God has promised him. He must have thought that
it was about time that God quit making promises that he couldn’t keep and got
real.
And admit it. We all feel the same way from time to time.
God has made promises to us, too; and they are every bit as extravagant as the
ones that he made to Abram. God has promised that through Jesus Christ, we’ll
have an abundant life. In fact, that life will be so abundant that it will never end! God has promised to watch over
us, so that we’ll have everything we need. Remember what Jesus said? Don’t
worry about clothing or food or possessions, because God knows when even a
sparrow falls; and we’re lots more valuable than sparrows! Above all, God has promised us the peace that
passes all understanding. Life and peace and all our needs taken care of… Those
are the promises that we claim as God’s people. The only problem is that they
don’t square up with our experiences! If God takes care of us, then why do so
many people have to visit food banks and emergency shelters? If we are supposed
to have abundant life, then why are wheelchairs and hospital beds still on the
market? And what happened to the peace that passes all understanding? When I
checked this morning, the Sunni Muslims were trying their best to wipe the
Shi’ites off the map; never mind Palestinian suicide bombers and Afghani
extremists. Just like Abram, we raise our hands and ask, “Excuse me, Mr. God,
sir… We have a question. Just exactly how
are you going to accomplish all this?”
The answer that God gave to Abram doesn’t really sound like
much of an answer at all. God didn’t give Abram a detailed description of plans
for the future. No, God said, in essence, “Trust me.” Now, this isn’t the oily
“Trust me!” of a used-car salesman who is trying to take advantage of an
unsuspecting customer. No; it’s the loving response of a parent whose child is
frightened by the dark. “How do I know, Daddy, that there aren’t any monsters
under my bed? How do I know, Mommy, that the boogey man isn’t living in my
closet?” There is no answer for those questions except, “Trust me. It will be
OK. I’ve got this covered.” It’s the answer that God gave Abram, and it’s the
answer that God gives us, too. “Trust me.” It’s really the only answer that God
can give us as we stumble along on our journeys through life, trying to respond
faithfully to what God is asking of us.
We tend to forget that God doesn’t expect us to fully
understand his ways! After all, God is God… and we’re not. But God does want us to trust him. God wants the
kind of trust that doesn’t need a list of detailed explanations and airtight
proofs stapled to its corner. God wants the kind of trust that hangs in there
in spite of our questions and our contradictions and even our doubts. God wants
the kind of trust that says, “OK, God. You say that you’ve got this covered,
and I believe you. I don’t know how you’re going to do it – it looks impossible
– but you say that you’ll do it, and that’s enough for me.”
I imagine that Abram lived with his questions and his doubts
for a long time. I’m sure that they didn’t disappear overnight, despite his
trust in God. But Abram kept plugging away, trusting God one day at a time. And
then one day, Sarah came running up to Abram, breathless and flushed with
excitement. Astounded, he heard Sarah joyfully announce, “I’m pregnant! I’m nearly
a hundred years old, and I’m pregnant! Can you believe it?!”
May God give us the grace to live like Abram, trusting God
one day at a time, expecting God to make good on all his extravagant promises –
in his own way, and in his own time.
No comments:
Post a Comment