Conviction in Things Not Seen

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And 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 him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 

Genesis 12:1-3

Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” 

Genesis 12:7

The call of Abram started with a promise that God will make Abram into a NATION. It was a promise of OFFSPRING at the time when Abram was 75 years old and still childless. Although, it was still hopeful. Sarai, his wife was 65 years old.

So Abram started his journey as a nomad in faith, knowing that the LORD who appeared to him had promised him great thing. As time goes by, it seems less likely than ever. And one day, the LORD reassured Abram of the promise He made to Abram. And this time, even more promising:

After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 

Genesis 15:1

God spoke personally to Abram, telling him not to fear because He is a reliable defense to Abram. The LORD described Himself as Abram's shield. Even so, at times like this, it can cast a gloomy doubt upon the hearts of any mortal. God promised Abram a nation as a reward of leaving his family in faith. Reading between the lines, I think many of the community that knew Abram perhaps may find his leave risky and unwise. He had a wonderful and stable life but he left all that and followed God. Yet so many years later, it seems like his life is heading to nothing but left hanging in between. He is miles away from home but the promise of a nation is nowhere to be seen. So Abram finally broke it to the LORD with complete honesty:

But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” 

Genesis 15:2-3

Very often we have the idea that we must never complain of God. True, because God who is perfect shall have nothing to be complain of. Yet despite His perfection, God gives us space to complain. And the most wonderful thing about Him is that He listens to us. In our distress, I believe it is okay to go to God in prayer. It is not necessarily a manifestation of lack of faith. Any mortal lacks faith in the hardest time. But prayer in distress is the greatest manifestation of complete reliance on God and complete trust on His providence.

I personally fall short on that. Coming to Him in prayer could be the hardest thing for me to do. I simply cannot admit defeat. But God's way is higher and His grace is gentle. He has never fail to reassure me in my most unreasonable whining.

To Abram's complaint, God responded:

And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. 

Genesis 15:4-6

This time God told Abram that his nation shall be established through someone of his own flesh and blood. He made a reference to the multitude of stars, to describe the fruitfulness of his descendants. And by those words, Abram believed. Interestingly, God called Abram righteous.

This is interesting because Abram was called righteous despite the fact that he just whined about his situation. He was also called righteous even though he really had done nothing to achieve it. He simply believed that God will make things the way He wills, and he submitted to His ways. It was faith and obedience that put himself right with God.
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10 years went by and Abram remained seedless with his wife Sarai. 10 years of waiting and trying gave Abram nothing. Sarai gave up. How can God's promise be fulfilled when they have tried so hard and still no result is seen. All those waiting had thrown her uneasy. Imagine those insults: Sarai is barren and has proven a lesser wife to Abram in child bearing. She was getting old and all hope seems lost.

Then an idea came to her: What if Abram's own flesh and blood came not from my own womb but by someone else's womb? Abram kinda agreed. God didn't exactly mention it will be through Sarai's womb. He only said through Abram's loin. So okay, let's try it on Hagar.

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain childrena by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. 

Genesis 16:1-4a

And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram. 

Genesis 16:15-16

Ishmael seemed to be the answer. As the first-born of the house, Ishmael took away the shame of Abram and Sarai as barren couples. Perhaps God's promise may be fulfilled through Ishmael. Abram treasured him.

13 years went by, Abram and Sarai may have put the idea of bearing a child by their own behind them. Sarai had lost all hope of giving birth to a baby of her own. Abram was 99 years old by then, he's a man of age. Sarai was 89 years old, and had reached her menopause. Ishmael it is then. But God is never predictable.

When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty;a walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” 

Genesis 17:1-2

And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 

Genesis 17:15-19

24 years of waiting, God was testing Abram of his faithfulness. It was a test of patience, faith and trust. For 24 years, Abram, who was by this point,  Abraham, had walked blamelessly before God. Well, a lot of us may have a presumption that giving birth to Ishmael was an act of unfaithfulness. But to me, it was a logical move. It was a move of desperation, that any mortal would do. However, Abraham's mistake was his failure to consult God.

And I must admit, I fall short in this matter too. I act upon impulse, and very often, I fail to ask God first. I do what is logical, but what is logical, is only right, in my own eyes. Therefore, as I read Abraham's story again, I can empathize his desperation. The lesson to draw here is to consult God in every big or small decision that might affect our lives and the lives of others in every way.

Abraham had thought that God's visit this time is the completion of His promise through Ishmael. God had visited to bless Ishmael, He must bless him. Instead, God said "A child is to be born through Sarah next year!"

How ridiculous! So absurd that Abraham laughed at God's prophesy. Abraham would be a hundred years old by then. He's not even sure if his organs would be functioning the way it should. A child would be born to Sarah? She would be 90 and the Scripture says "the way of women had ceased to be with Sarah".

The LORD said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” 

Genesis 18:10-14

"Whao, what a way to do Your work God. You have made big promises and made us wait for 24 years, and now You decide that I will give birth at an age where my shame would be permanent with me? Shall I have pleasure when my husband is old and I am worn out? Haha, what a joke!" Sarah must have thought.

But this is exactly what made Isaac so special: he was a child of miracle. He was born to parents that who in no humanly possible way to give birth. And yet, a year later, Isaac was born as promised. He was the answer. His birth redeemed Sarah from her barrenness. She rejoiced at the very thing she never would have thought possible. She smirked at God's way and she did not believe she would be redeemed so miraculously. But God did!

The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” 

Genesis 21:1-7

Who would have thought? Sarah gave birth to a son when she was already in her menopause! No one would expect that. God did the unthinkable!

As for God, this was for His glory. What was impossible for man, was possible with Him. "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" This made sure that God's covenant was established with Isaac, not Ishmael, because Ishmael was born by human effort, but Isaac was born by His appointment. From Isaac onward, the saga of Abraham's nation and the journey of his offspring begins.
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25 years of waiting just to witness God doing the unthinkable. Abraham's faith in God was something that we all admire? I would ask myself if I would take God's promise as it is and wait for 25 years. And as things seem less likely, it is when our faith in God really tested. How much hope do we put in God? How much do we believe that God's way is better than our ways?

Abraham was a wonderful portrayal of what faith is. Hebrews 11:1 says "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Abraham held on to his hope as promised by God and he remained convicted of the promise even when things don't seem to develop towards the ending we expected.

In my waiting, God is asking me to have faith. My restlessness stems from my fear of failure and my desperate desire to be in control. God is asking me to rest assured. Even when things don't appear to be favorable, He is asking me to remain convicted. God is asking me to rest in Him, for He is in control.

I need to let go of my desperate desire to be in control, to decide for myself where I should be. Instead, I am to be still, and know that His way will always be better than my ways.

So Joash, rest in God. He knows best.

God's Character, My Encounter.