Ep. 178 — It’s All About Faith + ”Not Superheroes”
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Not Superheroes.
The last two nights, I've been thinking of the conversation that must have played in Abram's mind as he lay in his tent in Shechem, Bethel, Egypt, Mamre and Hebron and more:
“God, I know you told me to leave Ur and go on this journey. I remember the very moment you came to me, but nothing is really adding up right now. It's impossible that I imagined this call. God has confirmed and reaffirmed so many times, yet the promise seems no closer to happening than it did two years ago, five years ago, ten years ago, twenty years ago. Sarah is older than ever. How? How is it going to happen? God, I have been waiting a long time. I've tried to take the steps of faith you've directed, but there's just no end in sight. Did I miss a turn? I judge you faithful who promised. Sarah is suggesting that she should have children through Hagar. I guess that could possibly be the solution. Maybe this could be an opportunity to accomplish the will of God. It doesn't feel right, but Sarah is pressing on me. She left everything for a call she wasn't even witnessed to. Maybe she's right. I know childless arms have been so painful for her all these years. What if I offer up Eleazar of Damascus to be my heir? It's not exactly what I thought God meant when he said he would give me seed, but it's all I have to offer right now. Did I get it wrong? What in the world is going on? I have to call to mind the moments where God's appeared to me. If I give up now, I'll never see it. I know he is at work. I know he'll perform his word.”
There's a million other possible thoughts that probably or possibly circulated through Abram’s just-as-human-as-mine brain. It's impossible to put myself entirely in his shoes, but my point is Abram was human.
Abram was not a superhero. He had no superpowers. He didn't know he was the “father of the faithful.”
He didn't know he'd be an all star of Hebrews 11.
He was just a man. He was as real and frail and even as flawed as the next person.
He was not immune to questions and uncertainties. The tearing between the call of God and the present that didn't seem to match up were just as real for him as they are for an individual in the 21st century. The questions circled in his mind as they do in any child of God's uncertain seasons and juncture of the journey.
It is possible to read the few chapters we have of his biblical biography and read it emotionlessly. This could be said of all Bible characters. We read the Cliff Notes version of their lives and stories.
We can read through a situation that lasted years in minutes. Their life, their weight, their battles, struggles, and saga is summarized in one chapter, five chapters, 14 chapters, 50 chapters. The highs, lows, and victories can be summed up in a single sitting.
But they lived them. They lived in the present reality. They hadn't seen the “word” or call of God come to pass.
They weren't at the end of their tale. They were still in the middle of nights and losses and suffering and uncertainties. Their storylines were still being scripted. Detours and wrong turns were still being rewritten and woven into the final plan of God. Anxiety and perplexity sometimes weighed down on their shoulders, too. They walked through the Valley of the Shadow and faced the brutalizing pain of losses just as we do.
They didn't get shortcuts because they were Bible characters. They were real people with real emotions living real lives, and this is comforting to me.
The examples that God inspired to be memorialized on the pages of His Word weren't perfect; they were being perfected. They outlasted the antagonists and plotline of their stories. They got up one more time than they fell.
They taught themselves to silence the fears and doubts and questions and say things like, David, “I am like a weaned child,” and “What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.”
Or like Job, “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Like Joseph, “God meant it for good.”
Like Hezekiah, “Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard.”
Like Elisha, “They that be with us are more than they that be with them.”
And like Abraham, “I and the lad will go up yonder and worship.”
They were real. Their questions were real. The details of their lives were the reality.
But their faith won. They finished their course. We don't remember Abraham for the questions and wrestlings that he undoubtedly had, but for his faith.
His end was faith. And yours will be too. The middle won't define you. The questions won't define you. Faith will. Keep judging him faithful that promised.
Thank you for joining me for this journey!
Go grab your Bible and your journal!
I look forward to the power of this habit in your life. This is Unedited.