Matthew 13:57 And they were deeply offended and refused to believe in him. Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his own family.” I wonder if the people in his hometown were jealous of Him? Here is says they were offended that Jesus could teach so well. Did they feel like He was acting “above his station”? How often does my jealousy or resentment keep me from doing things or believing a point that Jesus made? For example, I know Jesus can do things but I often have a hard time believing that He will do it for me. I see how He’s done it for others, but when I compare what they have with what I perceive that I have, I come up short. And since I don’t see that He’s done it for me, I have a hard time believing that He will do it for me. Even if He’s promised in His Word. Does that make sense? This is especially prevalent when it comes to money and God’s promises about that. I read Robert Morris’ book The Blessed Life when my church did a series on him and I struggled to believe that God would follow through on the promises that Robert Morris brings up in his book (they’re in the Bible, but Morris points to them for support of his points). I wonder if part of my struggle is that I read about all the stories he tells of times when God has followed through in amazing ways, but I fail to see God’s hand working in similar ways in my life (even though He’s working in more subtle ways, I think). So in my jealousy of their stories I disbelieve or discount that Jesus will do what He says He’ll do and then that hinders God’s work in me and in my life. That’s kind of confusing, but it makes me think…. On a completely unrelated string… It mentions Jesus 4 brothers and an unspecified number of sisters. That means that Mary must have had at least 7 children (including Jesus)! I always thought of her as having a couple of children and that’s it, but she had a lot of children! Can you imagine being Jesus’ sibling?! “James, why can’t you be perfect like Jesus?” LOL! I’m not sure if that would have been amazing or frustrating.
Romans 4:20-21Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was absolutely convinced that God was able to do anything he promised. Abraham waited 15 years from the time God first promised him a child (his descendants would possess the land that God would give him) to the time the promise was finally fulfilled. (I learned that from “Veggie Tales: Abe and the Amazing Promise”… hmmm.) I knew that Abraham waited a long time for the promise to be fulfilled, but 15 years really puts things in perspective. I’m pretty impatient when it comes to promises, but then I see how Abraham had to wait so long, and I realize again that my timeline is very different from God’s. Having a child at the time when God made the promise would have been unusual. Having a child 15 years later and at the age that Sarah was made the fulfillment downright amazing. By waiting, the event was miraculous and spoke to God’s glory and ability, not nature or natural processes. We are given over 3,000 (more than 5,000?) promises in the Bible. They’re not all going to happen today. But, one way or the other, they’ll happen because God said so. And God doesn’t lie. So, waiting is hard. But, if its promised and I’ve followed through on my side to put God first and love the people around me, then eventually it will happen. (Although it might not happen in the manner that we expect or even desire.) Fifteen years is a long time to wait, but I’ll bet they thought it was worth every minute when Isaac was born. What a testament to believing God ABSOLUTELY. No doubt. No wavering. That’s amazing faith. And it’s faith that is built over a lifetime of knowing God and knowing His character. Wow! Gives a little encouragement to get up and get reading!