Thinking of Abraham this way is kind of dangerous.  It paints a picture of a saint who did everything right.  He blindly followed God out of his homeland.  He was willing to give up Isaac because God asked him to.  It’s so easy to picture him in the desert staring at the skies while God promises to make him into a great nation.  It makes me believe that God used him because he was a righteous man.

But Abraham has another lesson that I learned today.  I was reading an article by Skip Moen (oh, stop your groaning).  It was about faith and it talked about Abraham.  But about half way through it I was struck by the realization that my thinking was completely wrong in this area.  It has nothing to do with words or interpretation.  It has everything to do with perfection.

I’ve always thought (whether consciously or not) that since I’ve made so many mistakes in my life that God must be on his second or third best plan for my life.  When I made those big mistakes and those things happened way back right after college, it must have derailed whatever plan He had for me so that now I’m off course and headed to the next best thing.  I can’t receive His perfect promised plan because I’ve made so many mistakes.  Does anyone else feel that way?

And then I remember the rest of Abraham’s life (thanks to the article).  He didn’t trust God, so he told Pharoah that his wife was his sister.  Twice.  He agreed to sleep with another woman in order to “help” God accomplish His plan.  He stood by and let Sarah send his son off into the desert to die.  Abraham made a lot of mistakes.  And they were some pretty big mistakes.  But here’s the part that is amazing to me:

No matter what mistake Abraham made, God’s promise to him never changed.  When Abraham let Pharoah try to marry his wife, God didn’t say, “Oh well, too bad for you.  You don’t get my promise anymore.  You messed that up so you’ll have to have something else.”  When Abraham said yes to sleeping with Hagar to try and get her pregnant, God didn’t roll his eyes and sigh, “Abe, you’re on plan three now.  Keep messing up and you won’t get anything good!”

Even when Abraham made some huge mistakes (like me), God continued to bless him and kept His promise to him by giving him Isaac when Sarah was 90-years-old!  So, it suddenly hit me that even though I’ve made mistakes (okay, lots of mistakes), that doesn’t mean that God has chucked His original plans for me into the trash.  My mistakes don’t mess up God’s plans.  Sure, they create a lot of extra baggage that I have to lug around on my trip (or really, I give it to God to lug around, but since He’s so big it’s not very heavy for Him).  But they don’t stop God in His tracks and divert me to plan B or plan C.  My mistakes don’t surprise God either.  He knew me before He made me.  He loved me before He made me.  He loved me before time began, before there was light or dark, and before He even started creation.  A few (albeit large) mistakes don’t throw Him off, don’t disappoint Him so much that He takes away the perfect plan He has for me.  I’m going to say it again, in case you didn’t get it:

My mistakes don’t mess up God’s plan.

He doesn’t take away the promise just because I sin.  I have consequences for my actions that affect my life, for sure.  But just like Abraham became the father of the nation Israel, despite his rather large mistakes, God will continue to work my life for His glory into whatever His BEST (not second or third best) plan always has been.

And that’s REALLY awesome!

Psalm 112:1-0

Praise the Lord!   How joyful are those who fear the Lord
and delight in obeying his commands.
² Their children will be successful everywhere;
an entire generation of godly people will be blessed.
³ They themselves will be wealthy,
and their good deeds will last forever.
⁴ Light shines in the darkness for the godly.
They are generous, compassionate, and righteous.
⁵ Good comes to those who lend money generously
and conduct their business fairly.
⁶ Such people will not be overcome by evil.
Those who are righteous will be long remembered.
⁷ They do not fear bad news;
they confidently trust the Lord to care for them.
⁸ They are confident and fearless
and can face their foes triumphantly.
⁹ They share freely and give generously to those in need.
Their good deeds will be remembered forever.
They will have influence and honor.

This is one of those Psalms that makes me pause.  Clearly the writer was in a good mood the day he wrote this!  It must have been a day when good triumphed over evil.  Some people would say that these are all promises of God.  After all, they’re in the Bible.  I’m not so sure.  There are a lot of things that it says will or won’t happen to people who are righteous (right doers, as Larry the Cucumber calls them) that certainly aren’t universally true.  For example, not everyone who does good is wealthy (at least not in a monetary sense).  Good doesn’t always come to people who deal fairly with others.   I wish all these things were true, and maybe when it’s all said and done, they will be.  For now, this would be a great prayer of blessing for someone.  I pray it for me and my family.

Psalm 105:19

Until the time came to fulfill his word, the LORD tested Joseph’s character.

This entire Psalm is a historical account of how God kept His promise to Abraham and Jacob to give them the Promised Land.  It all started when there were just one or two men who wandered around the countryside.  And then God sent Joseph (he was kidnapped and sold into slavery, remember?  No first class accommodations there!).  God spent a long time testing Josephs’ character when Joseph was in jail for something he didn’t do.  Those loooooooong periods of time when we feel like we’re trapped (imprisoned) by life might be those times when God is testing our character in preparation for the next period.  If God had never humbled Joseph and taught him the lessons he learned in prison then he might have become a proud and contemptuous ruler instead of a wise and caring leader.  I doubt it was fun being in prison though.  Their prisons probably make our prisons look like the Ritz Carlton.

Anyway, the rest of the song recounts how the Israelites grew in number until they were like the stars, fulfilling the promise made to Abraham.  They were enslaved because the Egyptians grew afraid of their power and great numbers.  In their oppression, they didn’t try to rebel (that we know of) and if God hadn’t sent Moses to stir the pot they may have continued in slavery there forever.  But God was only half-way done.

He turned the Egyptians against Israel and hardened Pharaoh’s heart.  And then He led them out of slavery.  One thing I noticed is that when they left, not only were they loaded down with silver and gold (the slaves became rich), but “there were no sick or feeble people among them (vs. 37).”  That’s pretty remarkable considering the conditions they were probably living under.

And God eventually fulfilled the second promise, the one He made to Jacob to give the people the Promised Land.  He would have fulfilled that promise sooner, too, if the Israelites hadn’t been so stubborn and unruly…  but that’s for another time.

God’s promises don’t always get fulfilled immediately.  Sometimes it takes a generation or more to see their completion… but just like with Abraham and Jacob, God keeps His word.  Sometimes it just takes some testing of character to get it all started.

Galatians 3:17

This is what I am trying to say: The agreement God made with Abraham could not be canceled 430 years later when God gave the law to Moses. God would be breaking his promise.

One thing I realized when I was reading this is that this applies to any promise God made in the Old Testament.  The promises of God aren’t cancelled out when Jesus came.  They were renewed when Jesus came, and many of them were fulfilled when Jesus came.  Sometimes I have a hard time telling if something is a promise or if something is merely a man proclaiming God’s goodness.  Take David for example.  Many of the Psalms talk about God’s faithfulness.  Are those things promises or are they David talking about how he’s found God to be?  If they’re how he found God to be, characteristics of God, then isn’t that kind of like a promise because God is God and He never changes?  (Clearly I think too much, or maybe not enough, at 5am after being up all night with a sick child.)  It’s nice to know the promises don’t come with an expiration date, though.

Zechariah 8:6

This is what the LORD Almighty says: All this may seem impossible to you now, a small and discouraged remnant of God’s people. But do you think this is impossible for me, the LORD Almighty?

I feel a little bit like the remnant sometimes.  I feel small and discouraged by the circumstances of my life.  Last Sunday was one of those days.  I was frustrated by some of the events that had happened and discouraged by life.  The hope of God’s promises seemed really impossible and it seemed like we’d never get out of the situation we’re in.  There always seems to be a glimmer of hope on the horizon, but it never seems to get any closer.  I was overwhelmed and felt incredibly small compared to the craziness and circumstances of what is going on around me.

But God reminded me of His faithfulness, first through a song by Israel Houghton called “Everywhere That I Go.”  Here are the lyrics from the chorus:

You promised me, you’ll never leave
You promised me, I’m never forsaken
and I believe
Goodness and mercy, will follow me
Surrounding me, where I go
Every where that I go

These words are incredibly comforting because they remind me that God NEVER leaves, He NEVER gives up, He NEVER fails to keep His promises.  He never makes pie-crust promises (those promises that are easily made, easily broken… as Mary Poppins would say).  Everywhere that I go, He is there, surrounding me with His great LOVE!  So, what seems like it would be impossible and has over time seemed like it will never end, is not impossible for God.  He never leaves me stuck here, He never gives up on me, and He never fails to keep His promises.  Is it impossible?  For me, yes.  For God, no.

I still get discouraged and feel tiny compared to my overwhelming circumstances, but this (and God’s continual reminders through music) helps me to stay focused on the fact that God is SO much bigger than my storm and SO much more able to do the impossible than I can imagine.  I certainly don’t know the future, but I do know that He’s already been there and already knows the best path to take to get there.  And in the end, if I get there holding His hand, then no matter what life throws at me, He will lead me in His presence and eventually all those promises will be true.

Haggai 2:18-19

“On this eighteenth day of December–the day when the foundation of the LORD’s Temple was laid–carefully consider this:  I am giving you a promise now while the seed is still in the barn, before you have harvested your grain and before the grapevine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have produced their crops. From this day onward I will bless you.”

The Israelites laid the foundation for the new Temple and that same day God gave them a promise to bless them!  God didn’t wait until the Temple was finished, nor did He wait until it was partially done.  All that had been done was the foundation… but isn’t that the most important and most difficult part?

When you build a building it always seems that the foundation takes the longest.  The digging and preparing and all that seems to take forever.  Then they have to pour the concrete for the foundation to make it strong and firm so the house doesn’t fall over.  But once that foundation is done, the rest seems to go much quicker.    Once that foundation is laid, there’s a commitment to finish.

Maybe it’s the same with us.  Building the foundation for growth is probably the hardest because it requires us to go through testing and difficult situations so that we soften up enough for God to work in us.  We have to learn it’s not about us and that we can’t do it all alone and that we aren’t the center of the universe.  But if we’ve committed to getting through that really painful part of the process, we show that really do want to grow.

So, God doesn’t wait until we’re finished.  He doesn’t wait until we’re perfect and all that growth is done.  He doesn’t wait until the walls are up or until we’re making it all look pretty.  The base foundation has been laid, the commitment is there, and God blesses us in the beginning.  That’s pretty cool, I think.  It’s a little encouragement to go on.

Romans 8:28

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

This is one of those verses we all quote but sometimes don’t really believe.  Especially when things go wrong.  It’s hard to see the good in the bad.  But yesterday God made this verse really hit home.  Here’s what happened:

On Sunday morning I was leaving early because I was singing on the worship team at my church.  As my husband was helping me load the children into the car, I noticed that my front tire was low.  I had a nail in my tire.  So, I had to go the nearest gas station, unload the children to go inside and get some Fix-A-Flat, put them back in the car, and then attempt to get that stuff into my tire (it was a very messy process – I’m sure I did something wrong, but I tried to follow the directions).  Finally, I give up trying to get any more of the stuff into my tire.  My hands, the tire, and part of my car had white foam all over.  I’m running late for sound check.  I get on the road again, and I’m so frustrated because of the inconvenience of the nail in the tire.  The rest of the day followed the same pattern of “if it can go wrong, it will.”

Monday morning my husband took my car to the garage that we always go to, and there we discovered that my front brakes were shot and it was pretty much a miracle that they hadn’t given out on me already.  Additionally, all my tires were bald and needed replacing.  Expensive?  Yes.  Necessary?  Yes.  So, after new front brakes, 4 new tires, and an alignment, my car is driving like a dream (it doesn’t even shake when I hit 70 mph!!!).

After thinking about the last few days, I realized that if I hadn’t gotten that flat tire, I would never have had my car at the garage where they discovered my brake issue.  I would have continued to drive around with my precious children in a car that could have lost control from brake failure and was incredibly badly aligned!  That could have been tragic!  So, while it was bad that I had a flat tire, God worked it for good because it allowed for the discovery of an even bigger (and potentially life-threatening) problem.  Yeah God!  I guess there is truth to that verse after all!

Jeremiah 29:11-13

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord.  “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.  In those days when you pray, I will listen.  If you look for me in earnest, you will find me when you seek me.”

Most people are familiar with Jeremiah 29:11 and how God has good plans for us, to give us a hope and a future.  But, the ones after it aren’t as widely quoted, and yet they are such great promises!  How often are you in the middle of a crisis, clinging to God’s promise that somehow it’ll turn out for good, but you feel so alone and like God’s gone off on vacation or is ignoring you?  I know I’ve been there.  But these verses remind me that when I pray He WILL listen.  When I truly seek Him, I WILL find Him.

I love that He uses “will” instead of “can” in these verses.  The word “will” means it’s a definite thing.  “Can” would mean it’s possible, but might not happen.  So what about those times when I’m praying and it doesn’t seem like He’s listening?  Or when I feel like I’ve been seeking and seeking and not finding?  I’m not God, so I can’t give you the definitive answer, but here’s my theory:

He is listening.  Sometimes the things I ask for in my prayers aren’t good for me, so He withholds them.  I feel like he’s not listening because I’m not getting what I want.  For example, I want out of this financial situation I’m in.  I’ve been praying about it, but it hasn’t gone away.  I believe it’s because God is using it to work on some areas of my life (letting go of my need to control things, having self-control in my spending, trust, etc.).  I’ve been here for quite some time because these lessons aren’t easy for me.  However, on the other side, I know that the result in my life will be good and make the future better.  I also know that God is here, even when I can’t feel Him.  Barlowgirl does a song called “I Believe in Love” that has this chorus:

I believe in the sun even when it’s not shining
I believe in love even when I don’t feel it
And I believe in God even when He is silent
And I, I believe.

The whole song speaks to this topic, and it’s a great song.  So, we know God has good plans for us, but don’t forget that He promises to be there when we seek Him and promises to listen when we pray.  Even when it doesn’t seem like it.

This is Caleb speaking. He and Joshua were the only two scouts to encourage the Israelites to take the Promised Land, but when they refused he and Joshua were told that they would be the only two men left who would be able to enter the Promised Land after wandering in the Sinai Desert for 40 years. So, Caleb was 85 years old when he finally got the land that he was promised!

I love that this 85-year-old man, who was still well and active according to the Bible, is all ready to charge in and conquer – after all this time, he still believed God’s promise to give the Israelites the land. He knows that the Anakites are giants and have huge walled cities, but he is confident in the power of God to help him remove them from the land. So, on faith he asks for the land he was promised, trusting that God will help him to subdue it so he can actually live there peacefully.

So, perhaps when we know that God has called us to do something and it’s too big to be done on our own, we should go in anyway to claim our promised reward, trusting that God will conquer the giants before us as we move forward in faith. For example, God has called us to tithe our income back to Him. Right now, that means our budget is incredibly tight and sometimes it seems impossible to be able to make the ends meet. But, God has promised to provide, and so we tithe first, not always knowing how things will work together. And God does conquer the giants each month.

Isaiah is telling the people to pray diligently until God fulfills his promises regarding Jerusalem. This principle holds true for prayer in general, I think. Those who pray are like watchmen. They guard the city, our lives, by diligently checking for weaknesses and spotting the enemy while he is still far off. Prayer does this because it gives God a chance to show us areas that we need to work on, and we may be able to spot attacks from satan before they arrive, thereby giving us time to prepare.

Prayer is so important and it is often neglected (yes, even by me). Isaiah says to take no rest in praying. I’d imagine that you can sleep, but what he’s saying is to keep going and not give up. It’s easy to think that God isn’t listening or isn’t going to answer and then quit praying. We probably quit praying too soon. If He’s promised it, maybe He’s just waiting for us to be truly faithful in praying for its fulfillment. I wonder how often we quit praying right before God is about to act. It’s like the parable that Jesus told about the poor woman who pretty much harassed the court official until he heard her case and granted her justice. The squeaky wheel philosophy holds some truth. Is God able to answer our prayers after the first time? Yes. Isn’t he paying attention to our prayers? Yes. Is He teaching us faithfulness and patience and diligence by holding back His hand? Maybe. Does He want us to come to Him for everything, and trust Him for His answer? I believe so. God doesn’t sleep or ignore us when we pray. There’s a purpose behind the time when we wait for His hand to move.

So we should be like watchmen keeping our eyes peeled for areas in our lives where there is weakness and potential for invasion, as well as for attacks from our enemy. And we must pray continually and often, not giving up when it seems like it will never happen. That part is really hard. But, if the watchmen get tired of watching then the enemy can sneak in and attack, and if the prayer warriors get tired of standing and fighting and praying then the enemy gathers its strength. Don’t give up. Stand strong, stand firm, and stand diligently. Don’t let God rest until His promises are yours.

(photo credit: http://christsassembly.com/watchman.jpg)