This is the third week of our Lenten message series, “Seriously, God? Making Sense of Life Not Making Sense.” In the first week, the deacons explained three principles that are important to keep in mind throughout the series: first, it makes sense that God doesn’t always seems to make sense to us. God is all knowing and all powerful, so it makes sense that he will act in ways that we might not. Second, when God does not make sense we can grow in our understanding because God has revealed himself to us through the Scriptures and the person of Jesus Christ. Third, be careful not to confuse God not making sense with life not making sense.
Last week, we looked at the how to make sense of it when God says no. Jesus shows us that God’s no’s are to help us live in true freedom – freedom from being enslaved to our desires, evil and the opinions and whims of other people.
This week we are looking at the times when God lets us down. These are the major promises of life where we feel like God does not deliver. Or God allows major problems into our life that are odds with our greatest and deepest desires. We set our hearts on a dream and then we face problems that are insurmountable. God does not seem to care. We set out on a direction that seems a good direction and then a huge storm or problem blows into our lives and God does not seem to even care. We can begin to doubt God’s goodness when we face insurmountable problems to our hopes and dreams for our future or the future of the people we love.
We are going to use our first reading, from the Book of Genesis, and the example of Abraham to gain understanding. First, we need a quick recap of the first 14 chapters of Genesis. God made the world good, but there was a Fall from grace when Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit. From there things quickly got worse; their son Cain killed his brother Abel. Genesis tells us that evil continued to grow in the world until humanity becomes so corrupt that God grieves the creation of man. So God sends a flood to wipe out creation, except for Noah, the only righteous man on earth. God saves Noah and his family of three sons so that he can start all over again.
So we see that the problem of evil can’t be solved simply by wiping all the evil or bad people off the earth. Evil lives in the human heart. To confront the problem of evil something much more radical needs to be done – something even more radical than flooding the whole world and the building of the ark. The human race has become corrupted and does not know its creator, yet God wants every human being to know him.
Rather than solve the problem of evil in one fell swoop as was attempted by the flood, God will begin with one person and spread out his righteousness and goodness. God begins with the person of Abraham. Abraham comes from a wealthy family. He lacks nothing materially, but he desperately and painfully wants a son, but his wife Sarah is barren. In that world, children were everything. Your value and worth and in a sense your immortality came from having children and generations to follow you.
God tells Abraham to leave his country, leave his family and the riches of his father’s house, and move to a land he will show him. If he does, God says three things will happen: God will make of him a great nation, God will bless him, and God will make his name great. Out of desperation, Abraham leaves the comforts of home. He doesn’t begin following God simply because he feels a need for God. He needs a son and he follows God because he has some hope God will give him what he needs and desires.
Most if not all of us begin a relationship with God because we have a felt need that does not include God. We come to God because we hope he will deliver something else we want. Here’s what we need to know about our God – he humbles himself so much that he accepts us all the same. Certainly God does not want our relationship to stay in the place where we come to him only because we need something from him, but he stoops down to accept us when we come to him not because we want him, but because we want something else.
While Abraham does leave his homeland, and travels to the land God told him to go to, he does not obey God perfectly. He was suppose to leave his whole family (except for Sarah, his wife), but Abraham hedges his bet by bringing his nephew, Lot. This is a pattern for Abraham; he believes God, but he also hedges his bet. Throughout the story, God must wait to give Abraham his son because Abraham will not fully trust him. To bless the whole world through Abraham, God must bring Abraham to a deeper faith. We see Abraham’s doubt on full display in the passage we read today.
Years have passed since God first promised to give Abraham a son, yet he still does not have a son. Abraham complains, “Lord God, what can you give me, if I die childless and have only a servant of my household, Eliezar of Damascus?” Abraham continued, “Look, you have given me no offspring, so a servant of my household will be my heir.” (Genesis 15:2-3)
We might feel like Abraham at times. We feel God promised that we would have a blessing in our lives. We believe God promised it would be worth it to follow him, but it does not seem that way right now. In those times we need to check and make sure it really is a promise of God. If it is something God promised us then it is ok to tell God we feel let down by him. It is ok to vent to God. God can handle it. That’s what Abraham does.
Instead of criticizing Abraham, God gives him a sign. “Then the word of the Lord came to him: No, that one will not be your heir; your own offspring will be your heir. The Lord God took Abram outside and said, ‘Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can. Just so shall your descendants be’” (Genesis 15:4-5).
God takes Abraham outside and has him look at the stars. In an age without electric lights, the night sky would have numerous stars – countless. Some scholars believe it was actually day time when God took Abram out. God was saying that even though you can’t see the stars right now, you know they are there. In the same way, know that even though you can’t see your descendants know that you will have them. Abraham puts his faith in God, and it is credited him as righteous.
When there are storms and problems in life that get in the way of the greatest desires of our heart, we often ask why God? A better question might be “What God?” What are you teaching me about you? What does trusting you in this situation look like so I can come into a right relationship with you.
God allows the storms and problems of life so that we will turn to him in faith and trust. God wants to bless us and bless others through us, but for us to handle those blessings we must have a firm foundation and trust in him. Without that firm foundation, we will crumble under the weight of those blessings.
What problem are you currently facing that seems like it is keeping you from your hopes and dreams? Pray this week for the grace to place your hope and trust in God. Read, chapter two in “Seriously, God?”