Week 2: Genesis 13-23 and Psalms 8-14
I am enthralled with these chapters about Abraham and imagining the landscape that served as the backdrop to these stories. I had the amazing privilege of going to Israel with my church in March of 2018. One of the stops we made on our tour was near the ancient “oaks of Mamre” in Hebron, where the Lord and two other men appeared to Abraham. There was an awesome tourist attraction called “Abraham’s Tent” that had to be one the most fun experiences we participated in! We got to (or “had to,” depending on who you asked) dress up in tunics and were ushered into the “tent of Abraham and Sarah” where the patriarch himself hosted a delicious feast of authentic food. The most memorable part of that event however, was the camel ride. If you have never had the opportunity to ride a camel while wearing a tunic, please add it to your bucket list immediately! But, be advised, you might wet yourself! Between the terror of nearly falling off the front and the back end of the animal as its triple jointed legs stood up and the non-stop giggles that I had from the nervous-excitement of riding a camel, I did (wet myself)! And it was just as hilarious watching other people in their hysteria while the camel, completely unamused, schlepped through yet another stroll with tourists on its back.
Picturing the landscape I saw from that camel’s back, I absolutely love the scene we come across in Genesis 18 where it says,
“And the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him…They said to him, ‘Where is Sarah your wife?’” Gen. 18:1-2 and 9
In the previous chapter, God had just visited Abraham and reassured him of all the promises He had made about 23 years ago (if my reading and math is correct!). God spoke again of the heir that would be born to him back in chapter 15. Abraham hoped that Ishmael could qualify as the one through whom God would multiply his offspring and establish His covenant. However, God made it clear that the son would come through Sarah, even though she was 90 years old and her body had been long retired from child bearing possibility.
How often do we have a similar conversation with the God? “Here are the things that I know I can produce; the things that I have contrived in my own strength and ability. Now, You go ahead and use those however you want for your glory, Lord!” The response I have gotten from God is something like this: “I will use your life for my glory, but I will do it in such a way that I am truly glorified. It will be my power through you and it will be for my Name’s sake.” If I understand Him correctly, that probably means that my contrived efforts will not come in very handy for the work He has in mind.
While God blessed Ishmael and was with him, he was not the one through whom God would bring about the fulfillment of His promises (climaxing in Jesus). Ishmael was a product of Abraham and Sarah’s own contrived efforts. God wanted to demonstrate that all of His good and perfect work would be completely dependent upon HIM alone. Just as the natural ability to bear children had failed in Abraham in Sarah, God would supernaturally intervene and cause life to come forth from that which was decidedly dried up and useless. Generations later, when Jesus was conceived, human effort was not even an option. Mary was a virgin, and yet divine intervention brought forth life from that which was naturally impossible. Is this not what happens as He brings forth life in us, who were once dead in our sin (Ephesians 2:5). Again, He demonstrates that it has nothing to do with our own effort, but is completely His grace in action toward us.
When God met Abraham in chapter 17, he had been waiting a long time for some clarity on the things that Lord had spoken so many years ago. Though mind boggling, God’s promise of Isaac must have breathed fresh hope into the old man’s body. Then, in chapter 18, the Lord shows up again with two other fellows. This time, however, it seems that He has another someone in mind that He wanted to encourage. “Where is Sarah your wife?” they asked. The Lord knew right where Sarah was and that she would be listening in on the conversation from outside the tent door. He knew where her heart was after years of feeling absolutely helpless to be of any use in bringing about these supposed “offspring” of Abraham. He knew that she felt defeated, discouraged, confused, bitter, disappointed and tired of hoping. God also knew that she would be holding her son in her arms in a year. Even still, He came to say something to her:
“Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (Genesis 18:14)
Where does this hit you today? What hopes have you given up on? Are there promises that the Lord has given to you that have not yet come to pass? Remember, faith is being certain of things that are not yet seen (Hebrews 11:1). Faith is simply believing God; that He is faithful and good and true to His word, even when the evidence is nowhere in sight. Abraham believed the Lord, and it was counted as righteousness. We have the privileges of knowing that God’s promises to Abraham came to pass in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Now, 2,000 years on the other side of the fulfillment of those promises, we too must hold tight to faith in what He accomplished on our behalf though we cannot see. Our belief in Jesus and the sufficiency of His love and sacrifice for us is our righteousness. Wherever your heart is wavering in faith today, let the words that the Lord spoke to Sarah’s heart encourage you. “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” He will never let us down.