As I worked on this blog my son brought me a bowl of cherries as a snack. Simultaneously, my wife announced, “Life is a bowl of cherries!” We love cherries. Who needs vitamins and protein when you have cherries!
But have you noticed that cherries aren’t all juicy and sweet? Pits are part of the package too. If life is a bowl of cherries, then trusting God in the midst of the pits can be a tough proposition. Especially when the pits are prolonged. Have you been there?
Has your home life been dysfunctional so long that you can’t imagine what functional is? Has your career been a conundrum since it’s conception? Does it feel like failure wants to hold your hand and success will only send you a postcard? Pits really are a part of the package. It’s a truth that’s doesn’t go down easy.
What makes it worse is the fact that we live in a world that bottle feeds us instant gratification while mocking our desire to trust God. Like the father of the demon possessed boy in Mark 9, I find myself praying, “Lord, I do believe; help my unbelief!”
A portion of the help the Lord has given to me comes from the book of Hebrews, a book written to cultivate enduring faith. The original readers of the book of Hebrews were severely tempted to return to the temple as the source of their righteousness. The writer pulls weeds and spreads fertilizer, creating the opportunity for endurance. One of the ways he inspires endurance in chapter eleven is by showing us examples of great faith. His prime example is Abraham.
“By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” Hebrews 11:8-10
“He went out, not knowing where he was going.” I can’t tell you how much comfort and inspiration I’ve received from those nine words. Let me explain why.
I feel a tremendous burden to have my ducks in a row. I regularly seek to line up answers and plans for the current conditions and the future’s forecast. But sometimes trying to line up solid answers and plans can leave me tired and breathless. The longer I live, the more I feel like my ducks are hyperactive!
In Hebrews eleven I’m comforted to find Abraham had hyperactive ducks, too. He didn’t have an answer to the most basic of questions, “Where are we going?” But there in the midst of his unanswered questions and incomplete plans, he obeyed God’s call.
Wow! I want to be like that! I want Christ to find me behaving like Abraham when He returns!
The comfort and inspiration only grows when I dig into the story behind those words.
Think about Abraham leaving Haran in Genesis 12:5. The text tells us he took along all the possessions and persons acquired in Haran. The details are rather sketchy. Was this a Uhaul and a small staff? Genesis 13:1 says that Abraham was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold. We find the numbers were so great that the land could not sustain both Abraham and Lot. In Genesis 14:14, within ten years of Abraham’s departure from Haran, he mustered an army of 318 trained men born in his house.
These little details add significant weight to Abraham’s decision to obey God’s call.
Abraham was more than a family man; he was the CEO of a good sized organization. This isn’t a single guy without responsibility. Who knows how many people were a part of Abraham’s caravan…herdsmen, servants, and children.
Imagine the questions his wife or his employees might have asked him. “Exactly, what land are we going to?” “How long will it take us to get there?” “Will there be grass and water for our flocks?” “Will our families be safe?” “What kind of clothes should we pack?” “Where are you planning on buying gas?”
An honest answer to everyone of those questions would be, “I’m not sure.” Can you see the hyperactive ducks running around Abraham’s feet? There in the midst of quacking questions, Abraham obeyed God’s call. “He went out not knowing where he was going!” Wow!
Have you noticed we serve a God who doesn’t always answer our questions?
Have you noticed that we come from a culture that demands answers?
Do you ever feel ashamed for not having all the answers?
How often does our demand to have all our ducks in a row keep us from trusting the Lord?
Sometimes life is a bowl of quackers! May you be comforted and inspired by Abraham’s faith in the midst of your unanswered questions. May Satan stumble as he seeks to shame you for trusting the Lord. May Christ be glorified by our faith upon His return.
