That Thing You Fear
3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” 4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 13 Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions." (Genesis 15:3-5,13-14)
Years after God first promised Abram that, even in his old age, Abram would have a son, Abram still had no children. Rather than stew in silence, Abram questioned God openly. He worried, not only that he had no children but, especially that his heir would be his servant. God, in response, renewed the original promise - that indeed Abram would have natural-born offspring - and then God went further and entered into a traditional covenant with Abram. God essentially swore God's own life that Abram would have descendants. However, God noted that because of their disobedience, Abram's descendants would be enslaved for four hundred years
before God would redeem them.
Our passage from the gospel of Luke recounts how, as Jesus' notoriety grew and as a natural consequence his clashes with the Sadducees (Jewish authorities) and the Roman government became more pronounced, Jesus' life was clearly in danger. The Pharisees feared the worst, and sought to warn Jesus. Although Jesus and the Pharisees were often critical of one another, they were not enemies as much as each endeavored to test the other - so it's likely that their warning was genuine. Of course, their fear was well founded and would
indeed come to pass.
The servitude that Abram feared for his progeny, and the death of yet another prophet that the Pharisees tried to prevent were both inescapable realities and wholly necessary journeys through which God would display ultimate dominion. We still tend to do everything in our power to avoid hardship and stave off tragedy. We fear the pain, difficulty and discomfort. Perhaps we also assign some level of virtue to a life of ease. But it's in the times of seemingly insurmountable trouble that we are most aware of our need for God's deliverance. The brutal enslavement of the Israelites ended with God's miraculous liberation, and Jesus' crucifixion resulted in not only his resurrection, but also, our salvation. The things we most fear are prime opportunities for God to display fearsome power. Our fears may be well founded, but our trust should also be well placed.
Whatever it is, God's got it!
31 At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.” 32 He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ 33 In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!" (Luke 13:31-33)
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