Our story begins one hot summer afternoon. The temperature must have been around 100 degrees. The only relief available was the shade of a tree. The unbearable heat dulled the senses and clouded the eyes. That’s why Abraham was startled to see three visitors coming toward him. It was as if these strangers had appeared from out of nowhere.
In biblical times hospitality was very important to people in the Middle East. It was almost a sacred obligation. Hospitality was given to any passing traveler, even a member of a hostile tribe.
Abraham then invited the visitors to stay with him. In this story, these strangers were the messengers of the good news from God.Reading this story once again reminds me of two things about life.
First of all, God has a plan for each of us. God certainly had a plan for Abraham. He called him to leave his home and promised he would have as many descendants as there are stars in the sky.
At this time, Abraham and Sarah had no children. “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old or to a woman who was well past child-bearing age?” Abraham asked God.
Based on our experience, couples well into their 90s don’t have children. However, we discover in the pages of the Bible that regardless of one’s age, each one has a role in God’s overall plan. We are never too old or too young to be used by God.
Sometimes events that seem like absolute tragedies carry in them the seeds of a better tomorrow.
I do not believe that God causes those tragedies to happen. But God uses them to point us to his plans.
Journalist James Dent tells about an actor friend of his. This friend and another beginning actor early in their career landed bit parts in a live TV drama. The show was a murder mystery, and they played policemen. His friend had no lines but the other actor had a single line he was to deliver. In the second act, there was supposed to be a gun fired offstage, and he was to say, “Listen! I heard a pistol shot!”
He practiced his line diligently, trying out various intonations to give it different shades of meaning. Finally, he was satisfied.
The night of the show arrived and his moment came. “Listen!” he exclaimed dramatically. “I heard a postil…” and he stopped befuddled. Remember, this was live television. “What?” Dent’s friend ad-libbed. “Did you hear it?” the actor babbled frantically. “A shistel pot!”
At that point, mercifully, it was time for a commercial. Everybody, except the red-faced actor, collapsed in hysterics.
“After that,” Dent’s friend told him, “the actor left the business, and later became a wealthy stockbroker. I only hope he remembers when he’s counting his money that everything he is today he owes to a shistel pot.”
We don’t know what tomorrow may bring, but we know that God has a plan for each of us.
Secondly, let us trust that God will bring about the things God has promised us.
When Sarah could hardly believe that she was to be a mother at her age, God told Abraham, “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?” (vs. 14a)
In spite of Sarah’s skepticism, Sarah later would cry out in a great and wonderful happiness, “God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” (21:6)
Many times, we damage our health with worry. We dampen enthusiasm and joy with our anxiety. We need to turn our lives over to God, and trust God’s promises!
If we believe in a God who is always true to his promise, let us give ourselves fully to God’s keeping. We may lose a comfortable security, but we will find an adventure the likes of which we had never dreamed.
We may find ourselves poorer in material things, and the worldly ambitions will have to go. But beyond doubt, we will find a peace, joy, and a thrill in life that we never knew before.
The story is told about a Sunday school class in which a particularly effective teacher was relating the story of Abraham taking his son Isaac off into the wilderness to sacrifice him. The teacher told the story so well that one child covered his ears and said, “This scares me. I don’t want to listen.” Another child reassured him, “Don’t worry. This is one of God’s stories and they always turn out all right.”
Isn’t that the point? You are one of God’s stories, and things will always turn out all right.
