FEBRUARY 23-MARCH 1: WHEN THE MOMENT IS RIGHT
Come Follow Me “Is Any Thing Too Hard for the Lord?” Genesis 18-23
Abraham’s wife, Sarah, was a complicated woman. She was a beauty. Apparently even into her old age. Yet she had borne no children, which brought her shame. She was pragmatic, suggesting that Abraham should get a son through her handmaid Hagar. It worked. Sarah was also jealous, or perhaps unwilling to be pitied, causing Hagar and her son Ishmael to be sent away.
When heavenly messengers came to say she would bear a son, she laughed - in unbelief or joy?- I imagine a mixture of both. She was a complicated woman. I like her. I understand her.
I too am at a time where I’m finally getting to things that perhaps I should have done years ago, things I never would have thought possible or considered years ago. Like blogging. What?!
‘The universe is a concert, everything moves in time, and everything can happen when the moment is right. ...I’m a rocky start, maybe that’s by design.’
Sarah Laughed - Joe Buchanan
Lot’s wife was probably a lot of fun, living for the moment, not worrying for some imagined future. A future she apparently could not deal with. She would not let go of the past, looking backward.
We don’t have to make that mistake. Our past, the good and not so good, are building blocks; they don’t need to be our stumbling blocks.
‘Every hard fall back in yesterday, every stumble that I’ve yet to make, the cross redeems and washes away.’
Mistakes - Unspoken
Issac was the promise for the future. How loved and full of joy he must have been. He also had undeniable faith - in his father Abraham, and in God.
The Akedah, [Binding of Isaac] is read each year for Rosh Hashanah. This troubling story brings to mind our own willingness to be obedient, to sacrifice our own desires to be God’s servant, of being tested. It ultimately is a story of hope, that God will provide. A ram’s horn [shofar] is blown to represent the binding, and a call to repentance. To me it’s a reminder that Isaac himself chose to be part of the covenant, whether that would be in this life or the next. I’m glad he could do both.
Ultimately, the Akedah is a representation of Jesus Christ, who likewise made the choice to be the sacrifice. He was the lamb. His alter was a cross. God the Father did not intervene this time, knowing that this was the only way death could be conquered. Christ had to go through it to vanquish its permanence from both sides, to bring life back from death.
Binding and Crucifixion - Beit HaDarekh, Ladder of Jacob
Life is hard. Maybe that’s the whole point of it, because we’re stuck where we can’t see the whole picture, can’t understand how the blocks are fitting together, because they too often won’t fit the way we want to stack them; they keep falling over.
Don’t lose faith. Laugh when you can. Keep eyes going forward. Do your part. ‘The only way through is an hallelujah!’
Benjamin William Hastings, Blessing Offor - That’s The Thing About Praise
Life is hard. Hard is good. We can do hard things, and FIND JOY IN THEM.