YEHOVEH YIREH II

God made a promise to Abraham: descendants as plenteous as the stars; fulfillment of the hope in the hearts of Abraham and Sarah. But that had not happened yet, and circumstances seemed bleak. Abraham and Sarah were advanced in age. Sarah suffered the stigma of the time as an infertile woman. Abraham and Sarah were likely the topic of much gossip: their prosperous marriage but lack of an heir. 

Desperation caused them to act, to disengage a little in their submission to God's will and arrange their own outcome. And who among us hasn't once (read: many times) done that? We have faith in God's will, so did Abraham, but we seem sometimes unable to resist... jump-starting it. It is a triumph of faith when we are able to submit completely to God's will (as completely as we humanly can), but it can be difficult to live so seemingly... passively. Certainly on the contrary, submission to God's will requires  fierce loyalty, extreme patience, deep discernment and wholehearted effort. It requires a lot, which is why we sometimes... falter.  

• (Genesis 17:1-9): THAT I MAY OBTAIN

Sarah was prepared to arrange her own outcome. It was acceptable in her time that a maidservant could bear a child of her master's husband and be claimed legitimately. Sarah thought that if she at least arranged for Abraham to have an heir, she would lessen the pressure of the stigma. She thought that it was her only way to have a family. So Sarah instructed her maidservant, Hagar, and Abraham to marry and conceive a child.

Hagar conceived and suddenly her status changed. She was more than a servant and she knew it; as Hagar realized her new prominence, she was less deferential to Sarah. And Sarah was deeply bothered. She regretted her interference and was no longer gracious to Hagar. Sarah's unfriendly behavior even caused Hagar to flee with her baby (a sermon for another day). 

Ultimately, Sarah muddied the waters; acting on desperation always does. She added complication to her life and further heaviness to her heart. She involved others in that complication and heaviness. But Sarah also taught a great lesson: we must not attempt obtain by any means necessary, simply because we are impatient for, or in disagreement with, God's timing.

• (Genesis 17:15-27; Genesis 18:1-22) : INCREDIBLE PATIENCE, INCREDULOUS JOY

God continued to encourage Abraham to live a righteous lifestyle; He promised that if Abraham did so God would establish a covenant between them. The same spiritual contract is extended toward us. When we commit to following God, He commits to leading us into blessing. 

It had been many years since God initially made a promise to Abraham, but there was still no baby; but the promise never went away or changed or delayed. God was preparing to bring it into fruition, the baby into Sarah's womb. God met Abraham once again, this time to explain the details of the birth. 

At this point God changed their names from Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah... father and mother of nations. They were about to be parents together. And though God blessed Abraham's child with Hagar (Ishmael), His promise would be fulfilled through Abraham's child with Sarah. Upon hearing this, Abraham laughed. He was incredulous... joy and disbelief mingled within him. Before departing, God informed Abraham that his son with Sarah would be named Isaac, and would be born in the coming year.

Sarah laughed too, though perhaps with more disbelief than Abraham. To which God responded: Is anything too hard for the Lord? We overthink and overwork ourselves with worry because we forget that in fact nothing is too hard for our God.

Understand that God is in the details and His timing is intentional and perfect. He knows the names of the people and things that are yet to come into our lives. Though we stare into the future and sometimes see only impossibility, God stares into our future and sees the details of the hopes and prayers realized in our lives. If He has promised it, He has initiated its creation and established the time of its delivery. "It" is different for all of us, though often we share hopes and dreams and prayers; but in Romans 8:28 God promised that all things would work together for good to those who love the Lord. So no matter what is coming, it will be a good thing, even if it is an answer to a prayer we didn't think to make.

• (Genesis 20): CAUSED TO WANDER

Realize that Abraham and Sarah were consistently caused to wander by God. God's plan, purpose and blessing unfolded throughout the journey. It is important for us to take note of that because we often expect to arrive at a blessing. Instead, God delivers them to us as we move along His path for us. Our God multitasks. He is accomplishing multiple things for, around and within us at all times. It was His opinion that Abraham and Sarah were not ready to be parents twenty-five years prior to when they actually became them.

We are not always going to agree with God's timing. In fact, while we are in the process of waiting for a blessing, we will probably think His timing entirely inconvenient. It is helpful if we consciously prevent ourselves from fixating on only one specific thing and instead open our awareness.  A broader view of God's plan for our lives will enable us to learn and grow, receive and appreciate other blessings while still holding hope for that special one in the distance.

Because Abraham and Sarah were vastly blessed. Their story fixates on their specific prayer, and their other blessings fall by the wayside. Abraham and Sarah were healthy. Their marriage was secure and happy. Their blessings and their relationship with God allowed them to rescue and assist their family members in times of trouble. They were prosperous. God directed them away from desolate places and dishonest people. Abraham prayed to become a father but might have overlooked that God made him a leader and prophet, and blessed him with all of the skills to do both properly.

Desperation must not caused us to discard our truest blessing, the one we never have to wait for: God. Because even if waiting is a battle in our lives, it is one we cannot win without Him.

YEHOVAH YIREH I

"By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going." 

Hebrews 11:8 

The life of Abraham is a particularly great example of the process of blessing. His story unfolds over a long period of time and covers much of what we face during our lifetime. Indeed Abraham's  life outlines the process of how God builds blessing around the life of a faithful believer. It also includes the foibles of human nature, which are certain to affect our own story, and displays how God works powerfully through them, undeterred. By the end of this series, Abraham will use the term "Yehovah Yireh" (which means God will provide), in a time when he had the most reason to doubt that He actually would. Abraham's story is about provision, and more specifically, how prudent it is to rely on the God of provision.

In this 3-part series, we will outline the life of Abraham as told in Genesis, highlighting areas and situations from which we can learn to better navigate our own lives.

• (Genesis 11:29-12:9) BETWEEN GOD AND RUIN

“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

“Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you..."  In a time when there was so much land to be discovered and claimed and cultivated, this command from God must have been exhilarating. The promises of God always are, but the initial reality of those promises is often a lot... less so. It was brave of Abraham to listen and leave, but many of us would make it that far. Hooked like bait to the prospect of a grand blessing, we would allow ourselves to be drawn right up to the shore. But what if when we arrived there, we arrived at a desolate place? At that point, bravery would fade out and faith would need to kick in.

Because God did first lead Abraham into a desolate place, a land experiencing a grievous famine. Blessing comes steadily, not all at once. It might have felt like a random, senseless detour at best or a false promise at worse. Instead Abraham had faith enough to believe that God's plans were intentional, and therefore that each step in the journey was purposeful.

God builds blessing steadily throughout our lives, and at the commencement of our relationship with Him, He begins to break ground. Abraham pitched a tent between two cities: Bethel and Hai, meaning "House of God" and "Heap of Ruins" respectively. We also are between two such places in our lives. And we must decide, through our behavior, toward which we will walk. An apathetic lifestyle might remain in the middle, but unless we commit ourselves to the philosophy of God we likely wander into the latter. 

• (Genesis 12:10-20): SHE IS MY SISTER

Abraham and his wife, Sarah, went into Egypt to escape the famine. Egypt was a precarious place for them to be. At the time, it was probable that a man could be killed by another man in pursuit of his wife. So Abraham devised a plan: they would enter Egypt as brother and sister, rather than husband and wife. This was more of a technicality than an outright lie; Abraham and Sarah were half-siblings.

As Abraham predicted, Sarah captured the attention of the Pharaoh. He had her brought into his house to be groomed for marriage. Customary of the time, the Pharaoh gave Abraham valuable livestock as well as male and female servants in exchange for his courtship of Sarah. Abraham was on the cusp of losing his wife... and then God intervened. Egypt was plagued by the disapproval of God and Pharaoh immediately ended his pursuit of Sarah. He charged Abraham to take her back and leave.

Abraham left. He was blessed and successful before, but now he also had what he gained in Egypt. Pharaoh sent Abraham away with all that he had; Abraham lost nothing, in fact, God caused what he had to increase. It was never Abraham's intention to finagle anything out of anyone in Egypt, he only said what he had to say to retain his life (and he did not even lie to do it). He followed God and entered places with righteous intentions and thus he prospered. 

• (Genesis 13) : LET THERE BE NO STRIFE  

Abraham journeyed back to the place between Bethel and Hai. He was a prosperous man yet never forgot to reserve time for God; Abraham communicated with God and was receptive to God's answers. It was essential that he did, because contentions arose between Abraham and his nephew, Lot.

Contentions naturally arise in life, and it is prudent to consult God in the midst of them. However, it is even wiser to prepare for them before they do. Steadfast communication with God equips us with the tools we need to preemptively dismantle potential chaos and strife. Which is precisely how Abraham was able to graciously split from Lot.

Each man was prosperous. They had family and herds and flocks and herdsman. They began to outgrow their space; no longer could they comfortably dwell together. The herdsman of each began to have disagreements, then arguments. Abraham did not want anyone to live in a state of strife and therefore suggested that they separate. He offered his nephew first choice of the land: "If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.”

It was a gracious offer and only one a righteous person could make, because the two options were not equal. On one side, a watered, gorgeous land and on the other: a desert. Lot chose the gorgeous land; by default, Abraham received the desert. Abraham was able to allow Lot to make that choice because faith reassured Abraham that deserts do not exist for children of God.

Grace and humility and generosity are difficult to employ when a person's livelihood is involved. Do we have faith enough to believe that our grace, humility and generosity will cause us to inherit the actual utopia? Can we give up a good thing, trusting that God has something better? It did not matter whether Lot chose the right or the left because Abraham had submitted his life to the will of God. Happenstance or another person's greed might cause others to lose-out in situations, but neither pertains to the life of one who has submitted to God's will.

Indeed Lot's "grass" proved not to be greener at all (a sermon for another day).

• (Genesis 15:1-11): COUNT THE STARS

Time continued to pass, land continued to be journeyed upon and Abraham began not to doubt, but to despair a little bit. But his doubt never reached the point of spiritual desolation because Abraham communicated his worry to God; he wondered how he could ever qualify for God's extraordinary blessing, for he and Sarah were infertile. Abraham and Sarah were acutely aware of their infertility; they wanted a child badly. God had led and blessed and saved and preserved them, but their hearts still grieved for hopes unanswered. It's easy to relate to their situation, the condition of their hearts.

God listened to Abraham's prayer and then brought him outside into the night. God gently asked Abraham to look up into the heavens, the night sky and observe the stars: “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.” Would you follow God into such a quiet, intimate moment? Not only does God listen to us, He listens with empathy. Not only does God listen with empathy, He answers. Not only does God answer, He answers with tenderness.

When you need a intimate moment with God, He will sense that and ensure that you have one. One-on-one, you and God amidst the stars of His promises. He will remind you of His love, His promises, and His presence. He will comfort you with the strength to keep journeying as He cultivates those promises into reality. Abraham had a fractured place in his heart, a need, a prayer... but he did not receive it in that moment. He received reassurance from God and he chose to believe it. He believed in Him, and so even though his circumstances had not yet changed, his perspective of them had. Though his situation felt bleak, God reminded Him that it wasn't. Even though the promises seemed impossible, God ensured him that they weren't.

It's okay to need reassurance. It's normal. It's natural. God has seen it and mastered His response to it. God understands that we cannot see the whole plan, only our present position within it, and that it can feel permanent. But it is crucial that we bring those feelings to Him, because only He can reassure us away from the ledge of hopelessness.