Serious Blessings: God's Providence Amist our Doubt.

people! Amen? Amen!! What a week it has been! We are blessed by our Lord God to be here together! Well! We’ve been reading our way through the book of Genesis and seeing all God’s promises and plans for salvation start to take shape. Last Sunday we saw God’s Covenant with Abram and how God revealed that He would make a great nation from the patriarch’s people. Abram scratched his head in wonder, but he followed the Lord’s commands. God redeemed Abram, not because of the man’s belief, but because He chose to. Oh, but there’s a snag in the plans! Someone always brings sin into the mix. People can’t ever just take the good things of God and go forward in faith. Sin is always part of the mix. Sarai, in chapter 16 of Genesis, mourns that God has given her no children of her own and so she sends Abram into her servant Hagar’s tent. When Hagar conceived, Sarai became jealous and harmed Hagar. The Bible uses the Hebrew Word “anah,” meaning Sarai mistreated or severely oppressed Hagar. Let me be clear, everybody in this story sins against God. Sarai, for blaming God for her barren womb and despising God so much that she sent her husband Abram to the Egyptian slave girl. Abram sinned, because he knew from God’s speaking directly to him that his son would not come from anyone but his wife. Hagar sinned because even though being a surrogate mother was not a crime among other people’s, God’s people did not look favorably on adultery. So, rather that withstand any more verbal and physical abuse from Sarai, pregnant Hagar ran back toward Egypt and the angel of the Lord assured her that a second powerful nation, the Ishmaelites, would come from her womb.

Abraham: Father of a Multitude

Despite Abram’s faithless affair with Hagar and Sarai’s faithless work to manipulate God’s blessing, God renames the patriarch Abraham, which means “father of a multitude.” Abraham and all the males that dwelled in his household agree to be circumcised as a symbol of their covenant with God and God comes to Abraham again, reminding him of the blessing to come. God tells Abraham that he and Sarai will have a son. Not Ismael, the son of Hagar, but their own boy child Isaac. Abraham immediately falls down laughing. He laughs in the way that only grandfathers and old men who’ve seen everything can laugh. We can see Abraham, the stout old sheep rancher, falling down to the dirt and just laughing from his belly. What I want you to know is this: Abraham wasn’t laughing at God, he wasn’t poking fun at God’s promise. Abraham was laughing with God in joy and thanksgiving. I don’t know if you’ve ever had that kind of laugh in your life, but it’s the best feeling there is. When I met the person God wanted me to be with for life, I thanked God and my joy was so complete, I laughed out loud with nobody around by myself. When I completed by first full 26 mile marathon in South Bend, I laid right down in the middle of Notre Dame stadium and laughed with joy. When we moved into our house, I laid right down on the carpet and laughed as I thanked the Lord my God. There’s nothing wrong with that and God who created us laughs with us when there is joy and thanksgiving for His blessings. So, father Abraham was doing the ancient equivalent of passing out cigars in the waiting room. He, the Lord’s servant, was going to be a daddy in a year and he was filled with happiness and thankfulness to the Lord. Abraham honored God’s covenant by fulfilling his part. As soon as God departed, Abraham went out and had everyone in his household, including himself, circumcised as the Lord had instructed.

God now called Sarai “Sarah,” which means princess. In chapter 18 of

Genesis, three angels visit Abraham and Sarah and Abraham immediately honors them by serving the best of all that he has, meat and cheese and bread. He washes their feet. You may think about this as you read on in Genesis. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah are so evil that their eyes lust and they think of nothing but raping and murdering the angels of the Lord. But righteous Abraham feeds and shelters the servants of the most high and protects them from whomever might come up the road. Here again, we see the picture of Christ. Abraham offers the Lord God his gifts and offerings, invites Him into fellowship and sits at the dinner table with Him. Jesus was just as intimate in fellowship, teaching His disciples as the ate together on His final night of life. To feed others, wash their feet and sit at the table in fellowship is an act of love and is expected of all God’s people.

The angels are there to see Sarah, however. They remind Abraham that

Sarah will bear a son within a year. Sarah’s in the tent cooking and serving the unexpected guests and she laughs at God’s promise thinking nobody will hear her anyway. She chuckles, knowing she’s old and barren. She’s gone through menopause decades earlier. She asks why she should have the joy of giving birth to a baby. You can see her being cranky. She’s a 90 year-old woman trying to sit and doze in the shade during the hottest part of a southern Canaan day. She’s been woken up and has to host strangers with food and drink and things to wash with. The stranger speaking directly to Abraham is no mere angel, but God Himself. He questions Sarah. What’s with this laughter? Why do you mock? Is anything to hard for the Lord your God. Rightfully humbled, Sarah returns to her tent to go about her work while Abraham confers about what is going to happen in Sodom and Gomorrah.

Did you notice the difference between Abraham’s and Sarah’s reactions

to God’s covenant promises? God Himself did. Abraham had the joy and positivity of one who lives their life in faith and humility before God. God called, Abraham answered and he laughed with joy because God had blessed him, a lowly servant, with the gift of fathering a child and a nation. Sarah laughed, because that was her nature. She was set in her ways. She expected things in her life to go in a certain order. She would take care of the house of Abraham and soon pass away to her ancestors, knowing she’d lived faithfully before God and her husband. Inside her heart, however, she was a broken person. She’d been denied the blessing of a child and looked upon her life and marriage as a failure. She’d tried to beat the odds and use Hagar as a surrogate, only to despise the mother and child. She’d sent her husband to sleep with another woman. We read no argument in Scripture on Abraham’s part. He didn’t put up a fight and that may have eaten away at her spirit. Scripture says that he listened to her voice and went in to Hagar. So, when it came her time to be a mother to the nation of the Hebrews through her own womb, Sarah cracked and laughed at God’s promise. He caught her in the mocking and humbled her by setting her straight: I know you laughed.

Is Anything too Difficult for God?

The answer is an unequivocal “no.” The creator of the universe can do

whatever pleases Him. He is in charge. His word is final. We can be joyous and have a deep, intimate relationship with God, but He does what He wants and does what He says. He’s not part of the story of our salvation, He is our salvation and our focus in life. When Abraham laughed his belly laugh on the ground, he was thanking God for fulfilling a promise. He was sharing his joy and gratitude and praise with the Lord. When Sarah laughed, there was no joy. The moment was focused on herself. The matriarch of God’s people gave the Almighty a “pffftt.” As in…”pffftt, I’m an old woman. What’s God going to do with my body. I’m used up. No baby is going to come out of me.” This was a woman of God, a woman who knew and loved God, but she did not possess that deep and abiding relationship with her creator that caused her to simply trust in Him and step forward in faith. God, however, made her a part of His plan of salvation. God uses those who aren’t perfect, those who scoff and doubt, in His plans as much as He uses the Abrahams of this world.

We read about Sarah and it’s easy to tsk tsk her lack of faith and her

stubbornness, but most of us have been in that same place. “How’s God going to get me my groceries this week?” “How is faith in the creator going to fix my water heater?” “How is absolute belief in the power of the one who rules the earth going to help my church go on after I die?”

Romans 4:21

(Read Romans 4:16-25

Romans 4:16–25 ESV

That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Paul wrote those words to the newly converted Christ believers in

Rome and he went back to the Covenant between God and Abraham a thousand years after it was made. The apostle was clear. If God can take something that is dead, Sarah’s womb, and create life in it, is anything too hard for Him? If God can literally create life from nothing, is there any task too difficult for Him? The answer is always no! We scoff and laugh and mock things because we don’t understand them. People in our day and age think of God as simply the man in the sky who sleeps until he needs to curse us. Our world looks at Jesus as merely a teacher who wanted people to be nice to each other. The God I serve in faith is one I glorify, because He is able to do things that my mind can’t comprehend. I laugh for joy because I know that God makes a way when all else in our earthly power fails.

Three Things to To Take into Life:

I want to offer three points from the Scripture lesson that you can take along and cherish this week and keep ruminating on for all your life. Here’s the first thing:

#1: Abraham Grew Strong in His Faith!

Abraham grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God! Verse

20 of Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter four tells us as much. Abraham could laugh with the Lord his God and marvel at God’s wonders because his faith in God was deepening by the day. This is evidenced in Genesis 18 as Abraham intervenes on behalf of any righteous Sodomites who might be destroyed in the inferno that night. Abraham’s faith in God was such that they could have an ongoing conversation. His faith grew, because Abraham constantly chose to worship and give glory to God. Sarah, who was a righteous woman herself, was not at that place, because she was not exercising her spiritual muscles. Think about this. Arnold Schwarzenegger was mighty, built up man well into his forties. He was all muscle and a little terrifying. That’s why it was so cute when he did films with children, because you weren’t sure if he’d eat one. By the end of his golden era in the 1990’s, that muscle wasn’t defined anymore. Ah-nold looked almost human. Sarah was a Godly woman, but she did not grow in faith the way her husband Abraham did. He worked out his faith, he sought the Lord’s presence. His faith muscles were toned throughout his life. He spent his time glorifying and praising God and knew there was nothing impossible for our God.

The life of a Christian is a spiritual workout that has to take place

each and every day. Let me share this example. The other day on the news, there was an interview with a woman in her 80’s out in Pennsylvania. She was a voter talking about the election. She told the reporter: “I just finished my Pilates so I can stay upright at my age.” The woman knows that skipping some physical exercise will cause her to struggle physically after a while. Laughing at God’s power to bless us and work out His plan of salvation through us is like deciding not to do the spiritual exercise that keeps us upright. The exercises include daily prayer, digging into the Bible and talking about your faith with your neighbors, as well as God. Because Abraham continued to believe in God and glorify God in all he did, Abraham grew strong in faith.

#2: Blessing not Transactions!

One lesson I want you to take into all of life is that Abraham’s

faith is not the reason God chose to bless him and Sarah with the boy Isaac. Abraham didn’t earn Isaac and neither did Sarah. David didn’t earn a kill when he defeated Goliath and he didn’t buy his kingship from God. Solomon didn’t earn his riches from God, nor his wisdom. All of these blessings were gifts from God because the Lord our God chose to provide them. Rachel didn’t merit any special blessing when God opened her womb and gave her Joseph, any more than Hanna did when she cried out to the Lord for Samuel. God gives blessing, whether children or the things we need to survive in this world, not because we earn them through faith, but because He loves and cares for us.

There are many who preach in God’s name that if we give a little

bit more, or we’re just a little more faithful, God will shower us with health and wealth. Far be it from me to ever knock down any preacher who takes their message from Scripture, but beware of the wolves in sheep’s clothing. God’s blessings are from Him alone. You can’t buy them and even Abraham’s strong faith as he glorified God didn’t buy them. Let’s face it, we can’t afford the price of God’s blessings, but He gives freely of Himself. Watch for those in the church and the world who will tell you that you will be mightily blessed because you believe and you give. Belief in God, the faith and trust you have is an expectation of you because you love Him. Blessings are His to give.

There are some who preach what is called the “prosperity

gospel” or the “name it and claim it gospel.” That’s transactional Christianity and it’s not Biblical. God isn’t a bank you walk into and deposit belief knowing that you can cash in the interest you’ve earned. He’s the God who loves you enough to give you gifts from His heart, not your doing. There are preachers who will tell you that if you just believe and you just give enough, wealth will be yours. I’ve met people at the end of their lives who are dying and don’t understand why the God who provides prosperity isn’t keeping them from the grave. Because His will is not our will, His blessings are from Him alone. You don’t get rich by praying and believing. In fact, true faith will bring you to a place of heartache. You will suffer under the cruelty of unbelievers and the world will look on you as old fashioned. You’ll be as Abraham was to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, an old fuddy duddy God worshiper who chooses humility over misbegotten wealth. Jesus Himself, the authority on the subject says in Matthew 10:22 “and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

Matthew 10:22 ESV

and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

That’s a powerful message and it slaps down the idea that we can go buy God’s blessings with enough faith. Listen, my little dog Reggie has a name it and claim faith of his own, even in his peanut sized doggie brain. When he wants something, he puts his paw on it and then grabs it and runs. We are not puppies, but God fearing people who don’t buy the falsehood that we can just name our wants, pray for them and put our paws on them. We believe God gives what He wants out of His merciful, generous nature and our faith is an example of our growing love for God and our belief that He alone rules the universe.

#3: Bitterness in the Midst of Blessing

Genesis 21

My final word from Scripture this morning is this: Count your

many blessings one by one. Remember the Lord who has blessed you and who keeps you upright. Sarah was finally able to laugh in glory to God. She named her baby Isaac, which means “He laughs.” God had smiled on the couple’s humble estate and blessed them with a child, a boy who would be ancestor to a nation of God’s people. Sarah was joyous as the family feasted with their newborn son, but her joy was short lived and she again became bitter. Sarah saw Ishmael, who is now about 15, playing and making fun of the ancient couple with the new baby. In her anger she cast them out into the desert and it was only when Hagar and Ishmael cried out to the Lord for forgiveness that He heard them and delivered mother and son. God sided with Sarah, for nobody makes fun of His covenant with Abraham. Yet, Sarah is a caution for all of us. When you are blessed by God, when the food and drink are plentiful, when the children and grandchildren are gathered by your side, Do Not Give In to Bitterness. Every good blessing is from the Lord and your heart should reflect those gifts and glorify God. You strengthen your faith when you no longer look for reasons to be angry as God blesses you. When you gather with friends, don’t waste your time envying what they have or giving in to gossip. Love and care for them and thank God for them. When you eat, turn “oh, it’s just beans again” into “Thank you God for these beans and may they strengthen the work which I do for you.” When you are sick, look at illness not as God’s hatred toward you, but a time in which you are blessed with the voice to be able to speak love into everybody who visits and cares for you.

Laugh like it’s going out of style. Enjoy all that God gives us.

Free yourself from the bonds of bitterness. Always make sure that the reason you laugh is from the belly, the joyous way God enabled you to glorify Him and thank Him for His gifts without words. The laugh that only comes from the tongue is telling him that you haven’t exercised the faith muscles and haven’t grown strong in your belief in the Almighty giver of blessings and of unmerited love and grace. In other words, choose your laughter carefully.