Hay Fields

I live about 5 minutes from town, which is just enough distance between me and city limits for a good country drive.  I regularly see cows feeding, swarming hawks and owls, tractors plowing and sweet morning mist rising from farm ponds.


All through late spring and summer, as long as the rain lasts, fields and fields of tall green hay rise up.  It always interests me.  I'll watch it begin to grow, each day gaining height.  Then, one bright day I'll see a dusty green tractor start the all-day processing of baling the hay.  When five o'clock hits and I head back home, the farmer will still be out, cutting and baling the fields.  By next morning, the fields are freshly cut with all the hay in neatly packed bales. 

I thought about that farmer yesterday - how accomplished he must feel when he looks behind him as he drives back to the barns.  He'd never know how accomplished he was, though, if he never looked back.

Sometimes in our Christian life, we are told to never look back, to press forward.  But I think looking back is a good thing.  What awesome testimonies come out of remembering where we were when God picked us up & carried us though a storm.  When our children were hurt and we cried out to a loving Father, who heard us and intervened. 

Oh, God, that we may remember what you have done.  That we may look back, not with heavy hearts but with hearts free and rejoicing, at all the plowed fields of life.  Oh, Lord, that we may worship you daily for this!

...Had many sons... many sons had father...

Abraham.

So, I'm suppose to have his faith because, well, we all know that Jesus had faith, duh. So, when he was talking about faith in the Bible, he couldn't really use himself as an example. So, he used Abraham, for one.

Have you seen those cholesterol commercials where people walk around wearing signs with their cholesterol level? Well, that's how names were in biblical days. Adam means "man." The every popularized Jabez, for example, meant sorrowful things for poor ol' J. (Too bad he's not around to benefit from the profits his name has created today!) Abraham walked around as "father of many."

Shame. Embarrassment. If I were Abe, I'd feel horrible every time someone asked my name.

"Thank you for dining at Red Lobster, sir. Your name, please?"
"Father of many."
"Great! And how many will be at your table tonight?"
"Just me and Sarah."
"'Left the kids with a sitter?"
"Um, no. No children" (head down, embarrassed)

Let's liken it to my painting skills. I have none. I can't paint a picture to save my life. It would be like a museum hearing that I was a great artist & asking to display my art. Then, me giving them my best work, which consisted of connect-the-dot and paint-by-number pieces.

God promised Abraham many children. Abe didn't know when where or how & was sick of waiting. He was sick of being embarrassed, ashamed of the "lie" his name was telling.

Let's skip many parts of the story & fast forward to Issac - the promised son.

So, after years of mental torment (as I see it anyway), Issac was born.

"Why, here's one of "father of many's" sons right now! Hey, Issac!"

I'm sure Abraham loved Issac. He redeemed him to the world. No longer was his name a lie. Issac proved Abraham's faith - like the rain proved Noah's - to the world. Oh, what a precious relationship Issac must have had with his dad.

"Oh, Lord," Abraham must have prayed, "thank you for Issac! He's just perfect. I love him so much. Look at his hair and eyes! He looks just like me. Oh, and Lord, he loves being with me. We have fun together, and... what? What's that, Lord? You want me to sacrifice him?"

Did Abraham cry? Did he doubt God? Did he go to Sarah and ask for advice? Did he pace the floors wondering if he'd missed God? Did he wonder if God was punishing him for something?

No. Genesis 22:2 says "God said..." and verse 3 says that Abraham acted on what God said.

So, it's taken me a while to get to this point, but, here's where I want to be.

So many times we hear God. But, what he tells us seems crazy - even may seem to completely contradict what we heard him say before. It makes no sense. We don't understand.

So, we pace the floor. We ask former Sunday school teachers, the pastor, and the church janitor what they would do. We contemplate if we actually heard God. If we were in Genesis 22, there'd be thousands of verses between verse 2 & 3 telling just what we'd did to figure out if God was really speaking.

It seems so difficult for me to think that God wants me to have that kind of faith. I'll be honest, I just don't see how that kind of faith is possible.

God's never let me down.
God has no record of telling me something to do then failing me.
God has never broken a promise to me.
In fact, God has done so many "impossible" things in my life.

Why shouldn't I have that kind of faith? I can't think of a reason.

______
My name means bringer of truth. While God didn't give me this name, he did give me the name Christian - like Christ. Oh, Lord, please help me to live up to that name! Let me never shy away from it or be ashamed! So many promises come with that name. Praise the Lord! Let me have the faith of a mustard seed - even if I'm only starting out with the faith of the tiniest molecule of life! Birth in me a faith that can move mountains and give me the willingness and even the audacity to act upon that faith.