The Seed of Hope

The patience of Abraham.

Patience is a virtue that I’ve struggled with all of my life, and especially when I was younger. Come to think of it, both my impatience and the anger that accompanied it were prevalent constant companions until I began the spiritual journey that I’m on just over five years ago. Since then, I’ve learned (after a great deal of prayer, practice, and self-reminders) to be more patient in most every situation. I’ll be honest in telling you that waiting for God to open doors for me to share my heart with others in the area of ministry has become the last bastion of impatience in my life. I’m ready, willing, and able to go, but apparently He doesn’t think that it’s time. What’s He waiting for? J

Waiting…

I was doing some research the other day and read in the Bible that Abraham was 100 years old and his wife Sarah was 90 when she gave birth to Isaac, the son that God had promised them some twenty-four years earlier! Twenty-four years! Yeah, I know that God’s timetable and ours are totally different; a year for us is the blink of an eye for Him. Still. Twenty-four years? Can you imagine waiting that long for anything, especially a son? I’ve grown impatient after I’ve waiting for a traffic light to change from red to green after, what, maybe a minute?

You have to believe that having a son was a desire of Abraham’s heart long before he was seventy-six years old. Chances are that we could easily swap the numbers around and envision Abraham dreaming of having a son at the age of twenty-four and having to wait seventy-six years for his dream to become a reality. Wow…a lifetime of praying and waiting for the birth of a son.

What’s more is that God had told Abraham that he “would be the father of many nations.” Genesis 17:4 At the time, Abraham was 99 and Sarah was 89, and they were childless. God had to have been kidding, right? Surely the faith and patience of both Abraham and Sarah were stretched to the limit on more than one occasion during their excruciating wait. Still, they remained obedient to God; and God made good on His promise.

Of course, the story gets even better! One day, God came to Abraham and instructed him to take Isaac to the top of a mountain and sacrifice him as a burnt offering. God knew that He was putting Abraham’s obedience to the ultimate test, because of His love for us. What greater love is there than that of a parent for his child?

The next morning, per God’s instructions, Abraham took Isaac and set out for the mountain where he would sacrifice his son. Once there, Abraham built the sacrificial altar, arranged the wood, placed his bound son Isaac on top of the pile and prepared to sacrifice him by his own hand. At the last moment, an angel of God called out to Abraham and told him not to sacrifice Isaac. Because of his obedience, Abraham would be greatly blessed, as would all of his descendants.

And he was. God was true to His promise.

Consider your level of patience, especially as it pertains to God’s plans unfolding in your life. Do you have the patience to wait a year for a prayer to be answered? How about five years? Ten? Could you, like Abraham, wait for twenty-four years for God to make good on a promise?

I’ve been waiting now for five years. If I follow God’s timeline for Abraham, I figure that I have nineteen more years to wait. That’d make me seventy-eight! That’s okay; like I said, Abraham was one hundred years old when Sarah gave birth to Isaac. All I want to do is share what’s on my heart. Patience…

One more thought…

What if you are, or have been waiting for God to answer a prayer for you. You’ve been diligent in your petitions, and while your faith may have wavered a bit, it has never failed. What would your reaction to God be if He finally answered your prayers, then put you to a test that would take away that which you had been praying for all along?

Do you think that you’d pass the test?   

That’s a tough one, isn’t it?

Perhaps...

Psalm 103 is perhaps one of the most beautiful and meaningful chapters in the Bible. Psalm 103 is homage to God by David for who He is to us, and what He does for us.

1Praise the Lord, O my soul;

          all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

2Praise the Lord, O my soul,

          And forget not all his benefits---

3-5who forgives all of your sins…and heals…who redeems…and crowns…who satisfies.

Perhaps you can read Psalm 103 and not be rocked by its message of hope, promise, and deliverance.

Perhaps you’ve never let your sins accumulate to the degree that you couldn’t imagine the possibility of having a relationship with God.

Perhaps you’ve never been the victim of dis-ease, either in the form of a physical ailment or of mental anguish.

Perhaps you’ve never spent your life in a mental “pit,” living a life with no hope for today or the promise of a better tomorrow.

Perhaps you’ve never left your dreams and ambitions for a fulfilling life behind with your childhood.

8The LORD is compassionate and gracious,

          slow to anger and abounding in love.

10he does not treat us as our sins deserve

          or repay us according to our iniquities.

Perhaps you’ve never known what it feels like to be loved unconditionally, or to feel true compassion.

Perhaps you’ve never committed an offense so grievous against God or man that you couldn’t possibly imagine being forgiven.

Perhaps you’ve never been able to wrap your mind around the belief that contrary to our tendencies, God doesn’t punish us according to the severity of our offenses.

Perhaps you’ve never understood or accepted that God will “turn-the-other-cheek” time after time after time for the same offense.

13As a father has compassion on his children,

          so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;

Perhaps you’ve never figured out how the God that we are instructed to fear can be so compassionate, loving us the way a father loves his child.

Perhaps you’ve never realized that, unlike our earthly fathers, God the Father is perfect in every way. He’s always there to love us, to forgive us, to provide for us, and to lift us up.

Far too many of us today can associate with one or more of the “Perhaps” listed above. Sadly, some of us can relate to all of them.

Perhaps it’s time to reflect on God as you see Him; who He is, what He is, and what He does. Then, perhaps it’s time to take another look at Him through the eyes of Daniel.

Perhaps, like me, you’ll see God like you’ve never seen Him before.

Seven billion and counting...

As iron sharpens iron,

          so one man sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17 NIV

As I type this message, Worldmeters.com reports the world’s population to be 7,003,342,136 people and counting. The number changes almost as quickly as the eye can comprehend it. Amazing…

I have to believe that these numbers are merely speculative. I mean, how could an organization keep up with all of the births and deaths in the world as this very moment? No one is that good. No one that is, except for God. He knows everything about every one of us.

Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Luke 12:7

One

Consider this: God could have created 7,003,342,136 different universes instead of the one that we have. Each one of those seven billion universes would have a total population of 1. He could have stopped with Adam, and then created another universe for Eve. And so on, and so on. Sounds a bit absurd, doesn’t it? You know what? If it had been His plan to create all those universes, we wouldn’t have known the difference, and we would’ve been perfectly happy in our own little worlds.

Just think about it for a moment…

We’d have no enemies. There’d be no prejudice. No envy. No greed. No bragging. No competition. No murder. No rape. No robbery. Hmm… Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?

But wait…

We’d also have no friends. No dads. No moms. No husbands or wives. No sons or daughters. No mentors. No confidants. No one to love. No one to love us back. We’d have no one at all. Hmm…

I don’t know about you, but this doesn’t sound good to me at all; no, not good at all.

This notion kind of changes your perspective a bit, doesn’t it? Aren’t you glad that He decided to create one earth with over seven billion people in it? I thought so. J

His plan.

Here’s the thing: There are several reasons that God carried out His plan for us the way that He did, including family, friends, and companionship. I feel though, that there’s another reason that we either forget about or never realize at all…

We can’t make it in this world by ourselves.

No offense intended, but I don’t care how smart, or strong, or courageous, or determined you are. You just can’t do it by yourself.

Yes, I believe with all that is in me that God can provide us with everything that we need. In less time than the blink of an eye, He can enlighten us, comfort us, provide for us, and make everything just right. Still, He chooses not to. He wants us to turn to others for help because it’s part of His plan for us.

Wouldn’t you agree that seeking others for help is an instinct that we’re born with? We look to our parents for food, shelter, and guidance. We love to them for love. We look to them for protection.

As we’re growing up, we’re encouraged to think for ourselves, to do for ourselves, and to take responsibility for our own lives. This is a good thing, right?

The problems arise when we think that we have to do it all on our own. We have to solve our problems, ease our hurts, and work through our “issues” all by ourselves. We have to, or we choose to, “figure it out” alone. We can’t let anyone else in because it’d be too embarrassing, or a sign of weakness, or because our dignity or pride would suffer.

Thanksgiving

It’s the day before Thanksgiving. For the past few days I’ve been reflecting on the amazing people that God has placed in my life, and I’ve been truly overwhelmed during the process.

Tomorrow I’ll give thanks for the blessings in my life. I’ll thank God for His presence in my life, for filling me with His Spirit, and for sacrificing His Son for me. I’ll thank Him for my incredible wife Jackie, for our amazing family, our friends, and all the others things that I traditionally give thanks for at Thanksgiving.

Today, as I write this, I’m reflecting on all the people that God has placed in my life before this moment. I’m offering thanks for every individual who has loved me, nurtured me, cared for me, helped me, inspired me, been honest with me, taught me, encouraged me,   challenged me to be more, and led me towards Jesus. I’m grateful for the iron that has sharpened my iron.  

I’m ever so thankful that His plan was to create one earth with seven billion people (and counting) on it.

I’m thankful to be.