Day 5: Genesis 21–25; Job 25–30; Matthew 13–15
Sundays will prove to be challenging for me. I left the house at 7:45 a.m. and did not return home until 9:15 p.m. The only break in the work of the day at church was a lunch visit with my family. It was a great day with lots of joyful and meaningful encounters, but time to sit and read and reflect did not occur. At 9:30 p.m. Sunday night I sat to read Day 5 readings. I made it through Genesis, but fell asleep sitting up at the dining room table trying to get through Job. "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
When reading the scriptures becomes a task I am just trying to get through, I know it's time to rest. I don't want my time in the word to be task driven. Rather I wish it to be driven by love, my desire for God.
This morning (Day 6) I finished my day 5 readings. My plan is to do my day 6 readings tonight.
I was immediately struck by the very first line in Genesis 21:1 "The LORD came to Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what He had promised." Sarah became pregnant. He fulfilled a deep desire in her that she waited until she was 90 years old to enjoy. She had lost hope in ever having a child of her own, so she gave Hagar her maid to Abraham to have a child through her. But the desire never left her.
I have a tendency to despair when things are not going to plan. I can be like Sarah and give up on God and try to make things happen according to my desires, my way and on my schedule. This sort of thing puts me at odds with others frequently as I drive and push against the unwilling and complacent tides. And fairly early on I lose hope. I feel like giving up. Compromise feels like failure to me. Waiting feels like loss.
But what a joy it would have been to join in laughter with Sarah when Isaac, her own son from her own body, was born! His name means "laughter" because the impossible was made possible through the Lord's promise.
The Lord's return was not as the three strangers from Gen. 18, but in the form of a pregnancy. And this child is the one through whom God's covenant promise will be fulfilled. His descendants will become the multitude of God's chosen. Abraham's righteousness, his belief in God's ability to do as God promises, is rewarded in Isaac.
Soon however God tests Abraham by commanding him to sacrifice his only son Isaac. As Christians we know this story for it prefigures what God does in Jesus. Abraham obeys, but the Lord stops him from actually harming the boy. The test is over. Abraham's heart is clearly obedient. The Lord's command will be carried out no matter what personal sacrifice is required.
Such a man is a blessing to every community he lives in. Hagar and Ishmael are blessed, through separated from Abraham's household because of jealousy between Sarah and Hagar and her son. God cares for them, protects them and promises prosperity in a great future. Ishmael, too, will father a great nation of 12 tribes just as the descendant of Isaac (Jacob).
Abimelech is blessed by Abraham's presence recognizing that the Lord is with Abraham. They covenant peace between one another and their men. The Hittites are blessed because of Abraham and call him a prince among them. They offer him land freely because of the obvious blessing of God upon this faithful man. Abraham buys the field with a cave at Machpelah and now fulfills (at least in part) the promise to possess the land. In his grief at Sarah's death the Hittites honor this righteous man and allow this wandering nomad to own property in their land.
The conventional wisdom that those who fear the Lord and keep His commands will find prosperity and blessing is confirmed in Abraham, but for Job it is confounded. Job's testing is too great for him. He maintains his righteousness and that the testing he has had to face is far beyond just. His complaint is before the Almighty who remains silent. Job seeks an answer for his suffering, a wise response that would make sense of all he has lost and has to endure. But only wisdom is understood by the creator who sees all from His lofty place.
Job's grief is classic. He longs for the days when blessing was upon him and not this curse. He wants to go back. His hope in the future is to hear from God a word of wisdom. He is not crying out for death as he was earlier, but he may again. Grief and despair come in waves, with rise and fall, ebb and flow. Yet there is always the glimmer of hope as the tidal storm exposes hidden treasures. Hope is there even in the midst of terrible suffering.
Today Japanese watch in horror as a 1000 bodies wash up on the shore line in the wake of a massive earthquake and tsunami. And many are in fear of a meltdown of a nuclear reactor which could radiate and destroy more life. Such grief and despair! Lives taken in an instant. Survivors in peril and agony.
Yet there hidden in the midst is hope.
Matthew reveals hope that a day will come when evil and all evildoers will be separated finally and completely from the safe place God is building in the kingdom of heaven (Mat. 13:41-43). That hope makes suffering in this life seem like a "short time." (1 Peter 5:10) To Paul our sufferings in this life are not worth comparing to our bright glorious future (Rom. 8:18). The light of this hope drives away darkness and despair when we remember.
Jesus shows us that life in poverty can know plenty when we give thanks for what we have and share with others. Impossible things become possible when we orient our lives with God's will and hope in Him always.
In the face of terrible suffering, these words of hope can restore a failing heart. But like Job, that heart needs to express it's pain, utter contempt, disbelief, all the steps through the valley of grief, before it can have ears to hear.
Lord of the Universe, Shaper of worlds, have pity on the people of Japan. Nurse the wounds this tragedy has inflicted and restore them to hope. Revival has come to survivors in Haiti. Bring the gospel to Japan and overwhelm them with a tsunami of Christian love. Help us to trust You in all circumstances. Teach us Your wisdom and Your patience. Never let us lose sight of hope. And deliver us when we look at the wind and waves in the midst of the storm. Let us look always upon the face of Jesus. Amen
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