Lately have been reflecting on The beginning of Genesis 15, where Abraham has already heard God's promise that from him will come a great nation, but is starting to wonder how it will all play out, since he and his wife Sarah are both getting up there in age, and they still have no children. He assumes that his servant will have to be his heir (and later in 16 on Sarah suggests that he marry her servant and the servant will bear him a son. Which he agrees to). But The Lord has other plans, despite both Abraham and Sarah trying to take control of the situation. Now there are instances in life where you are supposed to take action (Exodus 14:15 always comes to mind: "Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving!"), but this seems to be more a scenario where God gave Abraham a vision of the future, that from him would come a great nation, through a son of his own, and Abraham should have not tried to make it work in his own way. Now, I don't think we can be too hard on Abraham, because several times in these accounts he proves his trust and faith in the Lord, with his words and actions (SPOILER God gives Abe and Sarah a son, Isaac, and then tells Abraham to give him up as a sacrifice. The same son he waited 100 years for, and Abraham agrees to it, trusting that The Lord has a plan. At the last moment God provides a sacrifice in place of Isaac). Not only does Abraham prove his faith, but his actions were relatable. If you or I were placed in this situation, where God gave is a glimpse of the future, and some of the details of getting from point A to point B weren't making sense or happening for SEVERAL years, wouldn't we also try to get a jump start on getting some of those things in place?
I have a similar scenario in my own life (ok. God hasn't told me that he was going to make a great nation out of my family, so it's not that similar). A couple months ago, I had a dream that I feel was The Lord giving me a glimpse of the future, a few years down the road. I won't share the details of the dream here, because I feel for now it's between me and Steve and God. But if it really was a glimpse into the future, you will eventually find out, dear blog reader, you will eventually find out.
Anyway the events of the dream were exciting to me, and it makes complete sense that these events need to happen a little ways down the road. Some of the details of the dream simply take years to accomplish. But even I, lately, have been daydreaming of ways to speed things up and make things happen sooner. I know better than this, but I think it is part of human nature to not have patience or to want to take control of things. And yes, there are things that we do need to take action on (I mean, even while he was waiting and trusting, Abraham still needed to be sleeping with his wife). But in this particular scenario, like Abraham, the biggest thing we need to do is to wait, and trust God's timing. I guess it's sort of an Advent lesson. Actively waiting. Living well in the now, yet looking ahead with great hope for the future. I am very thankful for this glimpse down the road. I'm not sure why The Lord gave it to me other than to give us hope and guidance. And who knows, perhaps I am reading too much into a dream. I do have lots of dreams, and I don't take all of them seriously. But this one seemed crystal clear. I hope I get to share it here some day.
What do you hope for? Has The Lord ever given you a glimpse of the future? How does God speak to you? What does it look like to actively wait, yet not meddle in the Lord's timing?
