Tag: wait

Something Out of Nothing (Life in Waiting Pt. 2)

By Ife J. Ibitayo

In my post “Almost But Not Yet”, I mentioned the faith of Abraham, the father of the Israelites. He left his family and homeland based on the word of a foreign god. The LORD promised that the son he didn’t have would inherit a land he didn’t know about! The apostle Paul speaks about the significance of Abraham’s faith in the book of Romans:

Something

“The scriptures say God told him, ‘have made you the father of many nations.’ This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing” (Romans 4:17).

First and foremost, Paul emphasized the nature of God. When someone makes a promise to us, whether it be season tickets to our favorite sports team or a job at an exciting startup, we stake the value of that promise on the character of that person. Are they a conman? Or are they trustworthy? Abraham rested his faith on the God of Adam: the Creator who formed valuable life out of worthless dirt (Genesis 2:7), the God who regularly makes something out of nothing.

Nothing

But the seeming flip side of faith is cold, hard reality. In Romans 4:19, apostle Paul said, “Abraham faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.” One hundred-year-old men don’t father children, and ninety-year-old women don’t become pregnant. With similarly daunting truths that stand against the promises God has spoken to us, how can we square faith with reality?

Someone

Paul concluded that Abraham was “fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised” (Romans 4:21). Abraham understood the unlikeliness of God’s promise but knew that God is greater than likelihood, probability, and even possibility. The God he served was a miracle-working, promise-keeping God, and He still is today.

Conclusion

God’s promises anchor us in the heavenly realm of healings, miracles, and resurrection power when everything else in the world tries to steer us elsewhere. We can choose to cling on to our God for one more day—trusting that He’ll again make something out of nothing, or we can accept that nothing will remain nothing forever.

“Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.”

(Hebrews 10:13)

The Foolish, Faithful Faith of Abraham

By Ife J. Ibitayo

Many of us are in a season of waiting right now. We’ve just finished Thanksgiving, and we’re trying to hang on until Christmas. We’ve been following the election cycle, and we’re anxiously seeking the end of this extended conundrum. We’re yearning for 2021 and its promise of a vaccine.

Abraham, the father of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, was no stranger to waiting. It defined his life. At the ripe old age of seventy-five, God promised him that he’d become a father of many nations (Genesis 17:5-6). Yet it wasn’t until Abraham reached the grave-knocking age of one hundred that God gave him his son Isaac.

The Foolishness of Faith

True faith will often look ridiculous to those who don’t believe. The Apostle Paul said Abraham “did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and also the deadness of Sarah’s womb” (Romans 4:19 CSB).

Now that we’ve seen the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham, it can be easy to diminish the sheer craziness of his faith. By the time God promised him he’d have a son, he was already old enough to be a grandfather. Stories must have abounded of the crazy, rich nomad that somehow thought his creaky wife would give birth to a son before they both kicked the bucket. Their whole family carried the shame and disgrace of believing in a vision from some little-known God that no one else worshiped at the time. Genuine faith often only looks reasonable in hindsight.

The Faithfulness of Faith

The Apostle Paul goes on to say about Abraham, “He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do” (Romans 4:20-21 CSB). Faith hangs on. It takes it stand on the sure foundation of God’s promise even as the waters rise to its throat. It believes God when He says He knows a guy who can walk on water (Matthew 14:22-33).

The Fulfillment of Faith

Summing up the fulfillment of this righteous man’s faith, the author of Hebrews says, “And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore” (Hebrews 11:12 NIV). Abraham lay hold of the promise God gave to him because he held on to God. He suffered the shame, endured the wait, and embraced glory and joy unimaginable because he had faith. The question remains if we’ll have the patience to receive our own Isaac.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation.”

(Hebrews 11:1-2 ESV)

Noah & COVID-19

By Ife J. Ibitayo

I recently reread the story of Noah, and the remarkable parallels between his situation and ours amazed me. I’ve learned three useful lessons from Noah’s response to his challenging circumstances.

Background

Noah lived in a time of great wickedness on the earth. Humanity had grown so corrupt that God decided to wipe out every living creature (Genesis 6:5-7)! However, God chose to save Noah, his family and a pair of every living creature (Genesis 6:18-19). He commanded Noah to build an ark for this purpose, and shortly after he completed it, the Lord sent a flood on the earth.

Watch Willingly

Just like us, Noah and his family were also trapped in a closed environment for an extended period of time. According to the Biblical account, their isolation lasted over a year (Genesis 7:11, Genesis 8:14)! Noah’s first recorded response to this crisis was to measure how his situation was progressing. He repeatedly sent out birds to gauge how quickly the flood was subsiding from the earth (Genesis 8:6-12).

It can be tempting to bury our heads in the sand and insulate ourselves until this pandemic blows over. But someday we will return to work, our kids will return to school, and many aspects of life will return to normal. If we have no idea when that will occur, we will not be able to restart effectively.

Wait Patiently

On the first day of the year following the flood, Noah removed the roof of the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry (Genesis 8:13). I expected him to immediately open wide the floodgates and spill out of the ark, family in tow. But he waited two more months before he finally left (Genesis 8:14).

Our economy is crashing, our savings are tanking, and our plans are crumpling in our grasps. We may be tempted to disregard government regulations during this stressful time. But just as disastrous as Noah leaving the ark when only the top of the ground was dry would have been, so too will be the consequences of breaking social distancing guidelines before health professionals advise us to.

Worship Readily

Lastly, Noah built an altar and worshiped God as soon as he left the ark (Genesis 8:20). This may sound counterintuitive. Why worship a God who allowed such a calamity to happen in the first place?

Having a job during this season of rampant unemployment, possessing savings to stave off need, or receiving a stimulus check from the government are all good gifts from God (James 1:17). Though we may not know why He allowed this tragedy in the first place, His provision up until today is certainly worthy of praise.

Conclusion

At the very end of this story, God tells Noah, “I have set My rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life” (Genesis 9:13-15 NIV).

Every time storm clouds gather overhead, we know the clouds will eventually part. The sun will shine down on us again, and a rainbow will streak the sky. Just as God sees us through every literal storm, He will also see us through this figurative one.

“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.”

(Psalm 42: 11 ESV)