Genesis 15:1-8
Once upon a time, a very long time ago there was a man named Terah. Terah was a good man and we have reason to believe he was a God fearing man who had several children. And then one some time after his elder son died, for reasons we may never know, Terah decided to take his Son, Abram, Abram’s wife Sarai and his grand son Lot, pack up everything they had and move to
By this time Abram and Sarai were getting pretty old, they were pushing 75 and they continued to remain childless. Then one day God came to Abram and said, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land which I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
And Abram listened to the Lord God and went, not knowing where God was taking him but knowing God would bless him and make him a great nation. Abram went because God told him to go. He followed God, trusted God and God took him to
Often times we make a big deal about Abram going where God told him to go without even knowing where it was God was leading him, but the Bible does not make a big deal out of this. The Bible only takes 8 verses to tell us about God’s call for Abram and Abram going to
We would think that blindly following God across the desert would be the hard part, but apparently that was the easy part, it was trusting God in the promise land and with the whole of the promise which seems to be the hard part for Abram. After Abram has settled in the
It is as this point in the story where Abram decides it would be a good idea to tell everyone that Sarah, his WIFE was just his sister. At this point I want all the wives, girlfriends, girls with guys sitting next to them to get your most mean, icy stare going, you know the one that one that makes children stop whatever they are doing immediately and the men in your life’s blood to run cold. I want you to hold that stare and look at your husband, boyfriend, and the nice guy who happens to be sitting next to you. Now Men look back at them because this is the look you would get if any of the women in your life found out you did what Abram does at this in our story. Don’t look back at me, keep looking at each other. I want that look emblazed into you memory. Because I want you to know exactly what a bad idea this was. As you can tell from the look on all these woman’s faces, THIS was, not, is not and would NEVER be a good idea. And for whatever reason Abram did not get the picture the first time he did this and received THAT look from Sarai, and believe it or not he tries this smooth move again later in his life, but then we are getting ahead of ourselves in the story.
I don’t know this the Bible does not say this but when I get to Heaven and I get to sit down and have a heart to heart with mother Sarah, I would bet money that she would tell me that it was at the moment when Abram said, “hey hon. I have a really good idea let’s tell everyone you are just my sister and not my wife,” was the moment when Sarai stopped trusting Abram word on this whole God making them and their forever allusive offspring into a great nation.
As you can imagine this whole, “she is just my sister” scheme did not work out so well and resulted in them having to high tail it back to Canaan where they settle down once again in the land where God told Abram, he needed to be in the first place. At this point God comes to Abram once again, almost as if after all that had transpired God sees that they needed to start over again. Abram, you might have not trusted me to take care of you here in the land I am giving to you and your children, you might have done some things which put even the idea of your children in jeopardy but I have not backed out of this promise, I have made to you. You might have gone your way for a while, but you are back and I am coming back to remind you what exactly it is I have promised to you.
God came to Abram, in spite of Abram’s sin, God came to Abram in spite of Abram’s lack of faith in God during the famine, God came to Abram and said to him after all that had taken place, “Do not be afraid. Abram, I am your shield. Your reward shall be very great.” God knew Abram’s fear, his weakness and told him, “do not worry, do not be afraid I will protect you, I will be your shield. I know it is hard. I know the road is rough. I know you do not know as I know. Your reward will be great. My promise still stands. I am here, trust me, rely on me and do not fear, do not turn from me.”
Abram turned to God and said, “What in the world are you talking about. You promised me children, you promised me descendants. A man my age should have these, children, grandchildren, great grandchildren. A great nation indeed! I HAVE NO children!” And God takes is all in the infinite patience which only God has and gently leads Abram outside at night, to the very edge of the camp with the entirety of the desert lying before him and the great dark sky riddled with the heavenly lights stretching out above his head. And God has Abram, look to the stars shining the ink black sky above him to take in the vastness of the sky and the innumerable nature of the stars flung across the canopy of the heavens. As Abram is taking all this in, God tells Abram this is what I am giving you; I am giving to you descendents whose number will rival the stars in the sky.
And it is after all this that God makes his covenant with Abram. The covenant in which God did not merely promise Abram innumerous descendants but a covenant which gives to those descendants the very land to which Abram had followed God across the desert, the land from whence he ran when times got tough, God gave to Abram the land on which he was standing as far as the eye could see in all directions. God made a covenant, a legally binding agreement that this land would belong to the yet to be realized descendants of this very old very childless man.
The New Testament makes is clear that we, the followers of Jesus Christ are the spiritual descendants of Abram. All those who choose to associate themselves with Christ, accepting his grace, living as he called for us to live are spiritual children of Abram. We are the spiritual descendants of Abram. We in many ways through Christ participate in this ancient promise. In so many ways Abram’s story is our story. And the God who came to Abram is the God who comes to us. The God who loving and caringly spoke to Abram at this time in his life is the same God who speaks to us. And surprisingly, or perhaps not so surprisingly, the message God has for us is not all that different to that which God spoke to Abram.
We may not be childless men nearing 100 trying to trust God in the face of a seemingly unfulfilled promise but we are a church which is over 100 year olds trying to find its way in a cultural landscape which seems to have changed beyond recognition. All around us we look and all that once was familiar and comforting and reliable has been taken away. The landmarks have changed and we are uncertain if we can find out way into the future which lies before us, because we are not even sure where we are anymore.
All the things which we thought our society and our culture believed in seems to have changed. The things we could understand are gone and what is left is a world to which we are unsure we can relate. We have blindly followed God and we find ourselves in a new land, a foreign land which seems scary and unfamiliar to us.
And we can be comforted and know the God who led Abram across the desert to the
But not only does God promise to shield us and tell us not to be afraid but God leads us into the night, and reminds us that our destiny lies with the stars. We are not an old man looking for children so that some part of himself will live on when he is gone, but we are a church wondering if this church, this congregation has a future and I believe God is saying, “Yes you have a future.” I believe God is telling us, “I am the God who has brought this church here in Cambridge up out of the 19th century, I am the God who lead this church through the 20th century and I am the God who is assuring this church that I will be with it, walk with it shield it, guide it, and take it into the 21st century and beyond. If only you trust me, if only you follow me, I can promise you what I promised your ancestor Abram, children, descendants in the faith, people who can point to this church as their spiritual mother, people who will call the people of this church their spiritual fathers, that those touch by God through us will be as numerable as the stars in the sky.”
God wishes to take our hand, God wishes to comfort us and assuage our fear, God wishes for us to trust and know that God is in control. We may be afraid of the famine, we may be find this the new landscape of this century is a place we would not have chosen for ourselves, we may even find this neighborhood where God has placed this church a fearful and frightening place, to even think, of doing ministry but this is where God has led us, this is where God has brought us and God promises us two things. God promises to be our shield to protest us and comfort us, to lead us and guide us. And God promises us as God has always promised those who choose to follow God, that the reward for following, the reward for trusting, the reward to going, doing, living as God calls us to go, do, and live will be great. So let us together take God’s hand and let God lead us as God’s people, as God’s chosen, as God’s church where ever it is God is leading us.
No comments:
Post a Comment