Creatures of Hope

    Have you ever felt like you are living in a country music song? Maybe you struggle with the way things are going at work. Maybe you or some one you love is struggling with illness. Maybe you are trying to figure out how in the world you are going to find the means to make it through the month. Maybe you look around at the death and destruction, the hatred and injustice that fills our world, and see an overwhelming problem. Whatever it is, there times in our lives that can throw us down, knock us down, kick us down, and leave us broken and bruised. It is very painful, and it is out of that pain that we cry out, that we wonder, "What is going on here?"

 

    Of course being in a country music song doesn't always have to mean that things are going bad. You could be spending time with friends and it could be great. Yeah, just me and my gang. Or everything in life can be working out just great. All is going according to plan. You are well aware of the blessings that you have in life. Life is a highway. But there are times when living in a country song can be bad too. I am a man of constant sorrows, today, my world slipped away, maybe even, I just can't go on dying like this? (by the way, those are all titles of country songs).

 

Whatever kind of situation we find ourselves faced with, we know that the promises of God are for us. If things are good, then the promises of God make those good times even better. If things are not so good, then the promises of God are for us a source of comfort and hope and strength.

 

We know that God has promised that he will be our God, that he will never leave us or forsake us, that he will be with us. We know that he promised us forgiveness and life, and that he promised that one day Jesus will come back and we will live forever in him.

 

    Abram found himself in a situation way where he would be more on the negative side of the country music spectrum. But before we get to those verses, we need to take a moment to set the stage. At the age of 75, Abram, a life long resident of Haran, is told by God that he is to pack up and go to the land that God will show him. That's it, pack it up, move it out. No idea where he is going or what will happen. So Abram packs up all his belongings, all his animals and servants, wife and even his nephew Lot, and he heads out on his way. Abram is promised that the land that God will show him will belong to him and to his descendants. There is just one missing piece here, do you know what it is? Abram, which means exalted father, is childless. There is no heir and thus no descendants. And yet, Abraham goes.

 

    The Lord takes him on a tour of the land. And keep in mind that these would not have been quick travels. Everything was done by foot or hoof. Again Abram is promised that he will have descendants. Yet at this time he does not.

 

A famine strikes the land and Abram ends up in Egypt, and by the time he leaves, he has accumulated a significant amount of wealth, but still no descendants. In fact his flocks have gotten so big that the land can no longer support him and Lot at the same time so they go their separate ways. God again promises to Abram descendants, and not just a few, but so many that they cannot be counted, his descendants will be as the dust of the earth; which is an analogy that we will appreciate much more once construction begins around here.

 

There is a war that breaks out among the some local kings and Lot gets captured in the process. Abram puts together a crew and goes in and rescues Lot. And though he is offered rewards from some of the kings he does not take them. You see Abram is not interested in accumulating wealth. After all, what good does it do to have wealth when you have no one to leave it to?

 

This is the stage on which the verses for our text are played out. Once the cries of battle have ceased, and payment has been turned down, the Lord says to Abram in a vision, "Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great." And Abram responds, "O Sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don't even have a son? Since you've given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth. You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir."

 

And so we find Abram standing, not between a rock and a hard place, but between barrenness and a promise. The promise of God is there over and against the barrenness, yet the barrenness persists. The promise of God is there over and against the barrenness, yet the promise has not overcome the barrenness. Not yet anyway. So how does Abram continue to trust solely in the promise when all around him is evidence against the promise? And the same goes for you and me doesn't it? How do we trust in God and his promises where there is so much that seems to be contrary to those promises?

 

The answer for Abram, and for you and me is to live as creatures of hope. We live in a world that is filled with hopelessness, and it is in the midst of that hopelessness, it is in the face of that hopelessness that we stand as creatures of Hope. In verse 4 the Lord reassures Abram of his promise, "No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir." Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, "Look up into the sky and count the starts if you can. That's how many descendants you will have!" And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.

 

In the midst of hopelessness, there is again the promise and Abram places his hope in that promise. He rightly places his hope in the promise because of the one who made the promise. And by hoping in that promise, by hoping in the promise of God, Abram is rooting himself in God, he is rooting himself in the one who made that promise.

 

The hope of Abram is not in the human reason that suggests that the presence of the barrenness is proof that there is no validity to the promise. The hope of Abram is not in the presence of the barrenness itself, even though that barrenness is pretty convincing. No, the hope of Abram is in God and knowing that God is God. And if God says that he is going to do something, if God makes a promise, it is a good bet that he is going to keep that promise, because God always keeps his promises.

 

We know and trust God's promises. We strive to live our lives in accordance with these promises, and doing this is faith in action. Abram believed God, and it was credited him as righteousness. Abram believed God and trusted his promise. That trust is what it means to believe.

 

Last month some of our congregation's youth attended the Nation Youth Gathering in New Orleans, LA. The theme of this gathering was "Believe." For those who attended it was an opportunity for them to be with 25,000 other teenagers who share their believes and worldviews. It was a powerful experience of the community of faith together in one place, worshiping and praising God. It was a powerful experience of the community of faith living as creatures of hope.

 

You and I are right to place our hope in God. You and I are right to place our hope in the promises of God. Because God is God. When he promises something, he will keep them. We may find ourselves faced with the frustrations of work, the sadness of sickness and death, the uncertainty of our finances and the grief over the injustices that exist in our world. We may find ourselves singing songs like, I am a man of constant sorrows, today my world slipped away, I just can't go on dying like this. We may find ourselves drawn to the human reason that says these things are in control. We may find ourselves convinced by the evidence of their presence. We may find ourselves thinking that even though we know God's promises are over and against these things, his promise has not yet fully overcome them.

 

It is in these moments that we, more than ever, need to place our hope in God. When there is so much hopelessness around us, we trust and hope in the one who makes the promises. Even though this is beyond reason and our understanding we hope in God because of who he is. We trust in God's promises and take risks according to those promises, because the one who makes those promises is faithful.

 

What are those promises? They are life. Not just life after death, but life before death. They are forgiveness and restoration and reconciliation. Won for us, not by anything that we have done or do, but by the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. It is the promise of God's kingdom breaking into our world and destroying the power of sin and death and the devil. It is knowing that even though these things have not been fully overcome, they have been overcome, and when Jesus returns, they will be no more.

 

God strengthens us and encourages us through his word and sacraments. He gives us to one another to hold each other up. To remind one another of God's promises and faithfulness. To encourage one another to place our faith in those promises. We pray for one another and care for each other, and in so doing we show to one another the love that God has for each of us. We may not always agree or get along, but we are united, we are one in Christ. We come together to trust and risk according to the promises of our God, and to make known to the world around us his love and grace and mercy and forgiveness.

 

This means that in the face of problems and conflicts, sickness and death, need and lacking, suffering and injustice we can know that our God has overcome these things in Christ. And though they are still present they have not overcome the promise. And when Christ returns these things will no longer exist. That is our hope and so we live together in that hope.

 

And while we live in that hope we work to bring God's kingdom, we work to bring this hope to the world, we work to share this hope with the world. And while we are doing this work there is another country song that we can sing together it is entitled, Love without End, Amen.