Friday Thought -- September 27, 2013

Good Morning Friends,

“Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weight current among the merchants. So Ephron’s field in Machpelah near Mamre — both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field — was deeded to Abraham as his property in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of the city. Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan. So the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham by the Hittites as a burial site.” (Genesis 23:16-20)

What is striking to me about the passage above is that the cave and the field near Mamre were the first parcel of land that was owned by Abraham in the land of Canaan. It was purchased by him as a tomb for his beloved wife, Sarah. Abraham, too, was growing old – he was already over 130 years old. He would follow Sarah in death in not too long a time.

God had promised the whole land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants as an eternal inheritance, but now Abraham is very near the end of his life and he only owns a burial plot and a small field around it. Where is the fulfillment of God’s promise?

The truth is that Abraham would never see the fulfillment of God’s promise. It would not come in his lifetime. Oh, it would come. God would keep His promise, but not while Abraham lived. It would be hundreds of years later – after a 400 year period of oppression in Egypt and 40 years of wandering in the desert – but finally the promise of God would come true.

Can you imagine hanging on to a promise from God for your entire lifetime – not seeing it fulfilled even as you approached death – yet still believing it? That’s what Abraham did. He believed a promise he never saw fulfilled. But God was faithful – and somehow Abraham knew he would be, even though he could not see it and never would.

That’s faith – to cling to a promise that you don’t see fulfilled for an entire lifetime. And God calls us to that same kind of faith. The promise of heaven – an eternity in God’s presence – has been given to us by God. We won’t see it in our lifetimes – we can’t see it from earth. But we cling to it – that is what God asks. And the reward for clinging to the promise that cannot be seen on earth is that we will see it fulfilled in eternity.

God keeps His promises – He always does.

His, by Grace,

Steve