Called Righteous

1/8/2016

21.1 The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. - Moses

The issue with Sarah and Abraham was the issue of barrenness – Sarah could not have children. In the ancient world this was a bad deal; not being able to have children was a big deal. Sarah prayed and sought God for a child, and Abraham did the same; they wanted to have a heritage in their children. And God promised they would.

Life often deals up mystery and uncertainty. We wonder why things happen or don’t happen, and often, our perspective of God wanders off toward the mystery and uncertainty of God’s presence and doings: God, are You there? God, did you hear me? That part of us which desires to control also demands answers. It’s our fallenness; it’s what we do. And then when it looks impossible, God visits as He said, and does what He promises. When do we quit trying to figure God out?

It’s called faith. If we have belief to accept God’s reality, then we need (or ought to have) faith to trust Him that He will do as He says or will answer our requests. It’s really that simple. Sarah had doubts about God because she trusted her math: I’m too old to get pregnant and my husband is too old for sex.

Age and physicality are no match for the power and presence of God. But God seems to like to put us in positions where all of our options are limited to trusting Him, not relying on our own abilities or resources. When God says He’s going to do something, He doesn’t need our help to accomplish what He says. All God expects from us is belief that He will do as He says, and when we believe, it is credited to us as righteousness.

We may think we’re pretty smart. We may think we’re pretty clever. We may think we have the puzzle of life all figured out. We may be satisfied with that. But regardless of what we think about the answers we may (or may not) have come up with, what we really need is for God to call us righteous, and in order for that to happen there has to be, on our part, an element of belief in God and what He says.

It’s one thing to believe in God; it’s entirely another to believe Him. Many will say they believe in God; they accept He is. But they don’t look to God to meet their needs; they’d rather take care of themselves on their own. Sadly, we all are limited in what we can do, and there comes a time when we run out of resources, and the question then becomes: now what? It’s possible that God is waiting for us to run out of resources and cleverness so that He can truly become our Source and Supply; our Provider; the righteous look for that to happen.

Father, You do as You say and You do when we least expect it. I’m not sure of why other than it makes me settle down and trust that what You say, You’ll do and I’m to believe that. I’m trusting You for the big and small things that are taking place in our lives this year that we may add to the journals: The Lord visited us as He had said, and the Lord did to us as He had promised. Amen.