February 9, 2016

Truth Always Reveals Itself

9 “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.

“There, in the tent,” he said.

10 Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”

Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. 11 Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”

13 Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

15 Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.”

But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.” -- Genesis 18:9-15

The truth is sometimes hard to believe. We see what we want to see. We hear what we want to hear. We dismiss what seems unbelievable.

Truth. Fact. I was trained as a journalist. As reporters, we were told to pay close attention so that we would report the facts correctly. There was no room for opinion unless it was a quote attributed to someone else.

Later I became an editorial columnist. That was all opinion. I backed up my opinions with facts but they were still opinions. People might disagree -- and many of them did -- but opinions are the views of one person.

Sarah laughed when the visitor said she would bear Abraham a son. She couldn’t see it. They were old and likely had prayed for a son for much of their lives. It was completely understandable that she would have trouble believing that God would grant her request when she was long-past childbearing age.

Her laughter showed her unbelief. And the visitor called her own it. She was afraid and rather than admit it, she denied her laughter. She made the situation worse with her lie. But you can’t lie to God.

Have you ever denied a truth, then tried to hide it? Probably. It’s like a child who breaks something and hides it because he doesn’t want to get in trouble for breaking it. Then he denies it when he’s found out. We don’t want to face the consequences of our actions so we lie instead.

Our lies don’t change the truth. We can’t reinvent the facts. We can continue to deny the truth and hope everyone believes our lies or we can confess our sins and admit the truth. Either way, the truth always comes out.

January 20, 2016

Wait On God

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”

Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.

When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”

“Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her. -- Genesis 16:1-6

God promised Abraham that he would have heirs more numerous than the stars in the sky. Abraham waited. And waited. And waited. Then his wife decided to take matters into her owns hands. And, well, it didn’t turn out well.

Waiting for God isn’t always easy, is it? Is it worth it? Yes. Because when we rush ahead of God and try to “help” Him, we create nothing but chaos and heartache. Sarah sure upset her own life and destroyed Hagar’s life too.

Sarah (as we later knew Sarai) didn’t even take responsibility for what she’d done. Not that Abraham was innocent. He should have known better. This is a man who loved God and, years later, would offer up his son as a sacrifice because God told him to. He had to have known that God would keep His promise and provide Abraham with a son. But he went ahead, had sex outside of marriage and then washed his hands of it when his wife got mad.

But getting back to Sarah: Have you ever known someone who made a decision that resulted in bad things and then the person refused to own the original decision? It’s pretty frustrating and probably more common than we all realize. No one really wants to admit to a mistake. A disastrous mistake sends us running in the opposite direction.

So much heartache could be avoided if we just did a few basic things. First ask God what He thinks. Slow down. Wait on His timing. Second, admit it when you make a mistake. Trying to hide your bad decision -- even if your intentions were for good -- only heaps heartache on top of heartbreak.

Trust God. Trust His timing. Trust His promises. And wait.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

A Lesson In Waiting

Then the LORD said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own to inherit everything I am giving you.“ -- Genesis 15:4

God promised Abram (later Abraham) that he would become a great nation. Abram, being human like the rest of us, immediately pointed out the problem: Abram and his wife Sarai (later Sarah) were old and they had no children. It seemed like an insurmountable problem to Abram. It was nothing to God.

And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD declared him righteous because of his faith.

-- Genesis 15:6

Abram understood that God could make anything happen. He also knew that God would keep His promise. Sarai doubted. She didn’t believe. She wasn’t patient. She decided to “help” God along. News flash: “Helping” God is never a good idea.

But Sarai, Abram’s wife, had no children. So Sarai took her servant, an Egyptian woman named Hagar, and gave her to Abram so she could bear his children. -- Genesis 16:1-2a

Sarah just decided to take things into her own hands and “make” God’s promise happen. Forcing something when God calls us to wait is never a good idea. Really. He knows what He’s doing. The problem for us is that God’s timing and ours are rarely the same. We would do well to remember that God’s timing is perfect and ours is a bit warped at best.

So Abraham ended up with Ishmael, his first son but not the heir promised by God. While it is easy to condemn Sarah for her really bad idea, let us remember that Abraham could have said no. Fortunately, God didn’t give up on Abraham and Sarah the way they gave up on Him.

Then one of them said, “About this time next year I will return, and your wife Sarah will have a son.” -- Genesis 18:10a

Sarah laughed when she heard this. Laughed. I’d like to make an awful observation about now but I know it would only come back on me. How many times have I disbelieved God’s promise over my own life? It’s easy to believe when it’s someone else’s life but not so easy when turmoil is all around you and you can’t see the light because of the darkness.

Then the LORD did exactly what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant, and she gave a son to Abraham in his old age.

-- Genesis 21:1-2a

Finally Isaac was born. The child God promised -- twenty years after the promise. Yeah. That puts a different perspective on things, doesn’t it? When God made the original promise to Abraham, He didn’t say when it would happen, just that it would. I would have trouble waiting two months but Abraham and Sarah had to wait twenty years. Yet, God remained faithful and He kept His promise.

It comes down to trust. Do you trust God to do what He says He will do for you? Do you trust Him to take care of you, to strengthen you, to walk beside you? Do you trust God with your money, with your home, with your family? Do you trust God to handle difficult situations, to grab you if you start to sink?

It’s when we try to take over, to force the issue to our time frame rather than God’s, that disaster inevitably happens. Ishmael came because Sarah didn’t believe and decided to make sure God’s promise was fulfilled. She later resented his mother and because jealous of them both. There’s nothing quite like getting what you think you want and then realizing that you shouldn’t have had it to start with.

Isaac was God’s promise fulfilled. It takes great spiritual maturity to wait for God. It’s hard. Our timing isn’t His, especially in this age of instant gratification. Yet when we do wait, God blesses us immeasurably. He fills us with His Spirit, His peace, His promise. His blessings multiply when we trust God and wait for Him.