On whom does God rely?

Some of us remember when our nation drafted men into military service. When the Bible speaks of the chosen people, it is talking about the persons God drafts into his service. These are the persons on whom God relies.

Abraham and Sarah were chosen, called, drafted by God. There was a great contract, a covenant: three almost unbelievable promises. God would give them a place in life (land); God would give them a future (descendants). God promised their lives would matter; (they would be a blessing to all people). All they had to do was trust God and do what God wanted them to do. To do this, Abraham and Sarah needed to make some significant changes in their lives. They were to leave their old life behind and go where God directed them. And this is what they did.

So, who are the persons God drafts? God uses people who are willing to make changes in their lives for the sake of becoming the persons God intends them to be.

Abraham and Sarah did as God asked, and they moved to the land God promised. "This is your place in life," God told them. "This is where you belong."

As the story is told in chapter 12 of the Book of Genesis, when God said "This land is yours," Abraham and Sarah did not stop there and begin their new life with God. They kept moving, going south. God had not told them to keep moving. I assume they were so caught up in the excitement of the gift, they just kept going, thanking God for more and more, assuming more and more was theirs.

The story says Abraham and Sarah kept going until they found themselves in what we call the Negeb desert. And guess what they found in the desert? A terrible drought and famine.

So, what kind of people does God draft into his service? Persons who, having been given a lot, assume it is their God-given right to take more and more. People who take a good thing and keep taking and taking until finally they are starving in a wasteland.

Facing a famine in the desert, Abraham and Sarah decided to go somewhere to find food. They did not turn north to the land God had given them. They went to Egypt. In other words, at the first real crisis after having begun to trust God, Abraham and Sarah abandoned their God-given place in life. Not only that, they went to—of all places—Egypt.

As they were entering Egypt, Abraham looked at Sarah and saw she was beautiful. "Tell them you are my sister." Abraham said. "Otherwise when the Egyptians see how good looking you are, they will kill me, so they can have you. Tell them you are my sister so that I will be safe and so that the Egyptians will be good to me."

What kind of people does God rely on? People who are about as brave and honest and selfless as Abraham. And what about Sarah? She went along with it. Now, there is a real demonstration of character and strength!

We know what happened next. Sarah ended up in Pharaoh’s harem. Now, Abraham and Sarah had not only abandoned their place in life—the land God gave them—they had also abandoned God’s promise that they would have descendants and a future. They had given up the possibility of their lives making the kind of difference God intended them to make. They had placed in jeopardy the possibility of their being a blessing to all people.

Now what was God going to do? God did what God has had to do time and time again. It is what we see God doing over and over throughout the scriptures. God had to rescue them from the mess they had made of things so that they could have the possibility of being the persons God intended them to be, doing what God wanted them to do.

God slapped Pharaoh with a few plagues until it finally dawned on Pharaoh that something was wrong. Then, somehow, he figured out what had happened, and he sent for Abraham. Pharaoh gave him quite a talking to. "Why did you lie to me?" It was the first lecture on ethics in the Bible, and it was not only delivered by someone outside the community of faith, it came from Pharaoh! In the very first book of the Bible, in the very first lecture on ethics, we are discovering that the knowledge of right and wrong is not limited only to those whom God has called into his service.

In a way it is rather embarrassing to realize that our father and mother in the faith were kicked out of Egypt for being liars. Pharaoh had his troops make sure they left the country. It is remarkable that Pharaoh did not take back all the gifts he had given Abraham when he had taken Sarah into his harem.

On whom does God rely? God relies on persons like Abraham and Sarah, and in the process, God uses even the Pharaohs of this world—persons who are unaware God is using them, even persons who do not believe in God.

Now, just in case we have not yet gotten the message about the kind of persons God drafts into his service, the writer of the Book of Genesis goes on to tell us another story about Abraham. When Abraham, Sarah and all the family got back to the promised land, they did not stop to dwell in the Negeb desert. They kept going until they came to the green pastures in the Bethel area, the hill country north of where Jerusalem is today.

Abraham and all in the family were now wealthy. In fact, Abraham had so many sheep, and Lot, his nephew, had so many sheep the land was overstocked. This resulted in their hired hands continually fighting over water wells and grazing areas. These conflicts were straining the relationship between Abraham and his nephew.

So, Abraham said to Lot: "Let’s stop all this conflict between us and between our hired hands. You decide which land you want, and I will take the rest." Now, Lot was no dummy. He took some of the better land, land with good grass and water, where there were cities with all they had to offer.

Who is that God drafts or calls to do his work in the world? Persons like Abraham. Persons who will give away their place in life just to avoid conflict and keep peace in the family.

Now what is God going to do? It is at this point that we come across the passage that was read today. After Lot had left, God said to Abraham: "Take a good look, north, south, east and west. All this is yours."

In other words, "Abraham, you may think you have given what is yours to Lot, but I want you to know that what I give to you I give to you. Your place in life is your place in life. Regardless of what you say or do, your name remains on the title. You may abandon it. You may give it away. But your place in life is your place in life and your abandonment of it or your giving it away does not change that."

Who are the people God calls, the persons God chooses or drafts into his service? On whom does God rely? On persons like Abraham and Sarah. Persons who trust God, who want to trust God, who try to trust God. They begin doing what God wants them to do, but they no sooner get started living in their new relationship with God than they begin to distort the relationship. They distort their trust, their confidence in God so that when they are given much by God they assume they can take even more and more. The result is they do not take their God-given place in life, but go too far taking more and more until they find themselves in some sort of barren place with their lives empty. And in their fear and hunger, they abandon all that God is trying to give them.

On whom does God rely? For reasons known only to God, God uses persons such as Abraham and Sarah, persons who trust God, who want to trust God, who try to trust God, but who in the midst of discomfort or hunger or danger will abandon what God is trying to give them. The persons God uses are the kind of persons who, for the sake of safety or for reward (or, as in Abraham’s case, for both safety and reward) will sacrifice their future and their God-given purpose. The persons God has chosen to use are persons who, even after God has rescued them and they have returned to the place in life God has for them, will then give away a major portion of their place in life just to avoid conflict and keep peace in the family.

On whom does God rely? On people not unlike you or me. On persons like Abraham and Sarah, persons with flaws, failures and sin whom God has nevertheless chosen to be God’s instruments for redeeming and blessing the whole world. For reasons known only to God it is Abraham and Sarah, you and I, and others like us whom God has chosen, God has drafted to be a blessing to the world.

None of us is rejected because of our failures, flaws and sin. And if that is true, then it is also true that our flaws, our failures, our sin are not excuses we can use to exempt ourselves from being the persons God has chosen, called, drafted to serve him.

 

God, thank you for not giving up on us. Help us be the persons you are calling us to be, persons on whom you can rely. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer:

God, whatever our situation or circumstance, help us be sensitive to You and Your activity in our lives. When we are sleepwalking through life, wake us to the marvel of being alive. When we are struggling through storms, enable us to be aware You are with us and will enable us to endure what we must endure. When our living is like someone lost in a fog, help us trust that You are with us, even though we do not yet know which way to go; teach us how to listen for Your guidance as we stumble through our fog. And when our living is like singing in the sunshine, protect us from the arrogance of taking the gift of life for granted; enable us to discover the joy that can only be experienced in true gratitude to you. God, whatever our situation and circumstance in life, enable us to be sensitive to You and Your activity.

And God, move us to do more than merely acknowledge your presence in our lives. Move us earnestly to seek your will and give us the courage and stamina to do it. All this we pray in the name of the one who was teaching us to live when he taught us to pray: "Our Father …"