Do you know how old Abram was when he was first called by God and told that he and his family would be made by God into a great nation?  He was seventy-five.  Do you know how old Abram is in this passage when God tells him the show is about to get started? He is 100 years old. Abram has been waiting for 25 years to see this great promise realized.  Why did God wait so long?  Didn’t he know Abram and Sarai would be weak, that they would doubt God, and that they would get tired of waiting and try to take a blessing by force?  Yes, God knew.  Is that part of why He waited so long?  I think it’s quite possible.

Regardless of God’s reasoning for this quarter of a century gap between promise made and promise delivered, the big announcement has been made–a son will be born to 90-year-old Sarah!  Perhaps because he has allowed himself to become cynical, the first thing he does is laugh at God’s proclamation.  Then, Abraham asks God to give this great honor to his son, Ishmael–the son he sees with his own eyes, the son he doesn’t need to trust in God to deliver.  I confess that I have tried to bargain with God like this.  However, I want you to know that is always a bad idea because countering the Giver of all Good Gifts is like stealing from your own piggy bank.  He wants to give you everything in due time, and you will strongly desire to grasp for any old fistful right now.

It was merciful for God to give Ishmael a blessing, but the ultimate honor of the covenant son was reserved for the child that came through faith in the promise–and in God’s perfect timing.

“And God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.  I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’  Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old?  Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?’  And Abraham said to God, ‘Oh, that Ishmael might live before you!’  God said, ‘No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac.  I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.  As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly.  He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.  But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.'” – Genesis 17:15-21

Sarai was a fearful, selfish manipulator.  Abram repeated Adam’s folly. Even though he heard the promise from God Himself, in unbelief he bowed to his wife’s fear.  Hagar was the victim of their folly.  Yet, what do they all have in common?  They were (either justly or unjustly) unlovable.  BUT GOD loved them.

Sarai is grasping at straws, and in her self-centeredness she blatantly sins against God and Hagar. Though alone and hurt, Hagar is sought out by the angel of the Lord who cares for and counsels her in her despair.  She, in turn, is promised the blessing of an abundant family.  We will also go on to see later how God neither cancels the covenant with Abram (to make him head of a great nation) nor removes Sarai from her place as wife and mother of this special family of blessing.

Are they finally done being fools,  you may ask?  Will they sit tight and let God fulfill His promise without trying to mess it up again?  No, I’m afraid not.  I am ashamed to say that just hours after I wrote the first draft of this somewhat scathing reflection on Sarai, I, myself, was guilty of trying to force God to surrender His blessing to me–in my timing.  While there is much failure yet to come, it is God’s love for fools like Abram, Sarai, and me that is most noteworthy.  And that same love is what the God of Life offers to you in whatever broken and/or foolish state you may find yourself today.

“Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children.  She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar.  And Sarai said to Abram, ‘Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children.  Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.’  And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.  So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife.  And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived.  And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress.  And Sarai said to Abram, ‘May the wrong done to me be on you!  I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt.  May the Lord judge between you and me!’  But Abram said to Sarai, ‘Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.’  Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.’

“The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur.  And he said, ‘Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?’  She said, ‘I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.’  The angel of the Lord said to her, ‘Return to your mistress and submit to her.’  The angel of the Lord also said to her, ‘I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.'”  – Genesis 16:1-10

At first glance, this story looks like a nod to collaborative and innovative genius among a group of builders.  Take note that God Himself comes down to check out this tower!  Then God responds in a way that might seem in awe, even threatened.  He says nothing will be impossible for them.  But instead of stepping back and seeing what they might come up with next, God sets out to confuse their language so they will no longer be able to tackle the impossible.  Why would God do such a thing?  Well, it wasn’t because God can’t stand when people accomplish things.

Don’t forget that Noah and his descendants were given the mission to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.  This required them to spread out and cover the Creator’s planet with testimony of His goodness to each of them.  In verse four, however, we see that a conspiracy had formed.  New vision was cast – vision that challenged God’s calling upon them.  They wanted to stick together and make their names great instead of God’s.  In light of this, stand in awe with me at God’s response to this pathetic, yet brazen attempt at overthrowing the God of Heaven.

So, let’s get back to the why.  God was not threatened by the tower of mud, nor by the limitlessness of the capabilities of these conspirators.  God is Creator and Father.  When He saw His people defying His commands once again, He did not lash out in rage.  He patiently corrected their course.  His people were given a new opportunity to follow Him, the God of Life, to a lifetime of amazing accomplishments, rescuing them, once again from the lies of Satan that would tempt them with greatness and reward them with slavery.

“Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.  And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.  And they said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.’  And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar.  Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.’  And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built.  And the Lord said, ‘Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do.  And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.  Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.’  So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.  Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth.  And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.” – Genesis 11:1-9

After having destroyed all of the rebellious people on the face of the earth in the days of Noah, God says something that at first perplexed me.  He states that He will never again cause total destruction on the face of the earth because of man, for (read: because) the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.  Doesn’t that seem illogical?  As a parent, I confess, I have used the “If you try that again, I will be right here to deliver the same consequence–do you hear me?” strategy.  I always thought that was the epitome of consistency.  Here, however, God shows His hand.  He does not threaten.  He knows that the human heart is full of evil, not righteousness.  Total destruction is merited, but God declares that He will withhold the weight of His righteous judgment.  He offers the enduring picture of grace instead of a power-struggle.  God doesn’t struggle for power; He is the Almighty.

We have already seen how God blessed Adam and Eve at the creation.  God is unchanging.  Look at His interaction with Noah and his extended family.  God also blessed them and told them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.  God gives life and commands us to live that life.  When the floodwaters receded, God promised Noah’s descendants that, despite the wickedness of man’s heart, He would not utterly remove humankind from the earth again.  However, the rebellious soul should fear the eternal removal of God’s very goodness as he embraces the the vast darkness of Satan.  Satan, after all, delights in death, not in life.

“Then Noah built and altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.  And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.  Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.  While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.’

“And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.'”  – Genesis 8:20-9:1

God is the Maker.  He delights in making things.  He spoke into existence oceans and waterfalls, mountains and valleys, trees and flowers, fish and birds, and land animals of all shapes and sizes.  He gave us color, texture, smell, and taste.  He made a banquet of fruits, vegetables, nuts, berries, roots, and more.  These were all of His first creations, but they were not His best.  Oh, no.  He saved the best for last.  He created man and woman in His own image, setting humans apart as the receivers and managers of this world bursting with good gifts – gifts from His loving hand.

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.  And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.'” -Genesis 1:26 (ESV)

Angela Chininin Buele

Rape is such a painful topic.  No one wants to remember, but sometimes it’s necessary to remember – necessary to file reports and press charges, necessary to talk and cry about it, or necessary to share with another wounded soul that she is not alone.  While I can’t say that I am glad  I was raped, I will say the amazing story God has given me because of that devastating violation, has changed my life forever… for the better.  Will you let me explain?

If you have not been reading along since the beginning of this 40-day writing project, you don’t know the personal history I shared regarding the complex story I will finish telling here and now.  If you would like to read the first part of the story, you can look back at my article from September 29, 2016 titled This Might Shock You.  I used to be Pro-Abortion.  If you lack time or interest, however, the most basic information needed to carry through with my story is this:  When I was a young child, I was raped by a teenager I knew, and I didn’t tell anyone about it for years.

Any child who knows the confusion, fear, isolation, dirty feeling, and anger of having been violated can only do so much to live a “normal” childhood.  If there is no justice and repentance for the offender, kids may feel like there will never be any healing for them.  I know I felt like that.  Since I knew the young man who violated me, when I finally told my mom about what happened, she helped me try to find justice.  She took me – a pre-teen then – to meet with the young man’s mother.  I handed her a letter and explained that I wanted her to mail the letter to her son as a way of confronting him, now a college-aged man.  Based on her dismissal of my story, I imagine she never sent the letter, and I left that day with the additional burden of being believed to be delusional.

A dark road of depression, sexual sin, suicidal thoughts and actions, and hopelessness were real struggles in the following years.  I know it was only by the mercy of God to lead me to turn to His well-kept promises when Satan would try to drown me in a sea of broken promises of fallen men.

As I followed Jesus in my young adult years, I tried to follow my dreams.  Since my rape was more like a nightmare, I just worked around it trying to ignore it.  In case you’re wondering, you can’t ignore stuff like that.  It just doesn’t work.

In my mid-twenties, I shared my testimony with a group of Christians with whom I was quite close.  In this time of my life, I was quite disrespectful to someone placed in authority over me, and I was rightfully told that I could no longer be a part of the work the group was doing since I was working against the team instead of with them.

When I moved back to my hometown, I was pretty sure I couldn’t go on.  My dream had been shattered when I was sent away from the team.  But I’m so glad the Lord prodded me on because my whole life changed within a few weeks.

While talking with the family of a dear friend, I overheard a few identifying details about a new family attending the church.  My heart stopped.  I knew it was him.  The man who had broken my trust so many years before was well-known and well-loved by my very own church family.

I had prayed for years that this man would not harm any other children, but I don’t believe I ever prayed for him to seek God’s pardon for his sins – against God, against others, and against me.  Yet it seemed that maybe He had done just that.  Not knowing what to do next, I did the only thing I felt I could do – wait.

A couple of months later, as I was sitting in a Sunday morning Bible study group, I was told of a young family the Lord was using to preach His Word and make disciples of Jesus Christ.  Thinking I would be blessed to meet such a couple, I asked their names.  I was told their names and that they were in the very next room at that very moment and I could meet them immediately.  It was him, and I was panicked.  Over 20 years had passed since the rape, but I was nearly crushed by a sudden tsunami of emotions as I rushed to excuse myself and escape into the crowded sanctuary.

By the end of that week, I had confided in some very close friends and asked them to meet with this man.  I asked them to tell him that I had forgiven him and to find out if he had confessed and repented of the sin.  Maybe you won’t be able to understand this, but I no longer wanted revenge for myself or humiliation for him.  I wanted joy for us both, and I knew that would only – could only – come from new life under the Lordship of God Almighty.

I was blessed to hear that my friends confirmed his acknowledgment of the rape.  What I had not expected was the account of his tears when the message of my forgiveness was delivered.  That moment was like no other before.  I was relieved of the burden of unresolved angst, the storyline that reached the conflict and went no farther.  God gave me a gift that precious few ever know.  He who was my enemy, my betrayer, is now my dear friend and my brother by the blood of Christ.

I tell you that even now I am filled with joy to know this story, to live this story, and to share this story.  This is a story I have rarely had the privilege to share, but I do so here because I know that rape is horrible.  Rape feels like the end of the story, but the Lord can – and does – give gifts through Jesus that are infinitely sweeter than your heartbreaks are bitter.

My story isn’t really over, and neither is yours.  I’m praying for you, my friend, to know true relief from whatever crushing burden you carry, maybe alone.  Will you cry out to the Maker of Heaven and Earth to make the end of your story sweet with forgiveness?

Angela Chininin Buele

There is no shortage of tension or conflict in the world.  From Supreme Court cases to domestic disputes, we disagree on a whole lot.  And when there are disagreements, our sinful nature wants to draw a line in the sand and start the roll call.  We ask, “Who is on my side, and who is on my enemy’s side?”

That is how we make wars out of differences.  One person posts a black ribbon, and someone else responds by posting a blue ribbon.  One person raises awareness for persecution of one religion so someone else makes known the greater suffering of another religion.  One group cries foul when bakers don’t want to make certain ceremonial cakes, while others dissent when certain flags are flown alongside or even replacing official city and state flags.

And then you have one group crying out for the right of the unborn to be granted life while another group fights for freedom for a woman’s free reign over any and all parts and persons within her body.

When people disagree on these matters, things usually get tense, and they occasionally get ugly.  But we should remember one very important fact.  You and I are not enemies – God and Satan are.  Now, I love and belong to God, so Satan is my enemy.  Yet, I am still most definitely not your enemy, regardless of how you feel about me.  That is to say, if you find me on the opposite side of one of those lines in the sand, it’s not because I don’t love you.  I love police officers, and I love black people.  I also love those who display one color ribbon over another even though I don’t display either.  I love Muslims, Christians, and Buddhists, even though I do not believe all roads lead to Heaven.  I love people of all sexual practices even while I support only one.

Can you stand opposed to what someone does and still have compassion and love for the person?  If you require people to prove their fidelity to a cause in order to earn your respect and favor, you do not have love.  This is as true (and as hard) for me as it is for you.  These issues are important to us, but if they are more important to us than the human beings with whom we are at odds over them, we will be undone.  You see, we are commanded by God to love people, not causes.

Key Question: I had previously asked when life begins, but maybe the greater question is, “When does love begin?”

Unshakable Truth: They said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.   Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?”  This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.  And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”  And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground.  But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.  Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”  She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more”  (John 8:4-11).

Jesus both rescued the woman from those who wished to kill her for her sins and told her to go and sin no more.  This what love is.  This is what love does.  This is Who Love is.  Love does not begin at first sight or when emotions surge.  Love begins long before then.  Love begins at the cross of Christ, and if you haven’t been there, you can’t know Love.

The Real Choice: Will you love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you?