Abraham & Sarah • Genesis 11:8-19 • Joel McCarty

Our preaching passage this morning is Hebrews 11 versus 8

through 19. By faith, Abraham, when he was

called, obeyed, and set out for a place that he was going to

receive as an inheritance, he went out, even though he did not

know where he was going. By faith, he stayed as a

foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents as did

Isaac and Jacob, Co, heirs of the same promise.

For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations,

who's architect and builder is God, faith.

Even Sarah herself, when she was unable to have children, receive

power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the

age, since she considered that the one who was who had promised

was faithful. Therefore from one man, in fact

from one as good as dead, came offspring as numerous as the

stars of the sky and as innumerable as the grains of

sand along the seashore. These all died in faith,

although they had not received the things that they were

promised. But they saw them from a

distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were

foreigners and temporary residents on the earth.

Now those who say such things make it clear that they are

seeking a homeland. If they were thinking about

where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to

return. But they now desire a better

place, the heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to

be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them by

faith. Abraham, when he was tested,

offered up Isaac. He received the promises, and

yet he was offering his one and only son, the one to whom has

been said. Your offspring will be traced

through Isaac. He considered God to be able

even to raise someone from the dead.

Therefore he received him back, figuratively speaking.

Good morning, church. It is a joy to be back with you

all. For those of you who don't know

me and I've not had the opportunity to meet you, my name

is Joel. I get to serve as one of the

pastors here at New Eden. Specifically the pastor for

preaching and oversight alongside our pastor for

shepherding Kevin Perry. As most of you know, I've been

on a every summer the elders allow me to take a about a six

week. Well normally it's four weeks.

This year it was six weeks. Just a little bit of a preaching

break where I can focus some energies and things into other

areas both at New Eden and then other opportunities.

So I just want to say thank you for you guys as a church.

Allowing me to just take some time and just do some things

like I got to speak at a student camp that we partner with Summit

Crossing on. And so that was what I got to do

during that time. And some of students and leaders

from Newton got to go, also got to go down to a conference

called for an organization called GSI which is the sinning

organization for one of our missionary couples.

The case who will be going to? The Vietnam area.

And so obviously don't talk about that publicly and that's

why I didn't say their names. They're not here this morning,

but I got to go with them down in Florida to experience that.

It was just a good reminder of God's heart for the nations and

just what he's doing in our midst.

So I just want to say thank you for the time and I'm excited to

be back. We are last week in this witness

series, which is where we're looking at different people from

the. Chapter of Hebrews Chapter 11.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

And then next week we're going to stop or jump right back into

our Jesus is better or greater than, if you take that graphic

seriously inside joke for New Eden people that have been

around a while we're going to jump back into that Next week

we'll be in Hebrews chapter 12. So in the meanwhile I'm going to

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

pick up these screws that we the TV was blinking last week and so

we changed it out and left screws up here and I keep

stepping on them. So Meredith, I'm sorry if you

were stepping all over these two, so.

I didn't know what they were. So also I'm gonna give you guys

a quick disclaimer. This morning is going to be way

different than normal. So I want you guys to just relax

and settle in because I'm trying to myself if you don't, if

you've not taught or spoke in front of people.

You might not know this and understand how some of this

works, but there's different types of speakers.

Some people like a very skeleton outline.

Some people type out everything word for word.

So I am what you would call a manuscript preacher, which means

I type out everything that I'm going to say word for word.

My people that run slides in the back can attest to that.

They get my notes and they can see I'm very specific.

I do it because my brain goes a lot of different directions.

You'd be amazed the things that pop into my brain while I'm up

here talking. And when that happens, I can

just you know read what I got going on and I've learned how to

read pretty well where you guys don't even know most the time.

But today I do not have that. So Full disclosure, I promise

you you I just if I say something, I'm sorry, that's why

I normally type stuff out. So I just want to say that up

front. Secondly, it's just been.

I'll be honest with you guys, I come in here pretty tired this

summer has been. I'm exhausting in a lot of ways

for me and my family and even just some heavy things going on

within the New Eden family that some of you might know about,

some of you might not know about.

And that's OK. And so I know that we all come

in here at different places. But honestly, last night at

about 11:30, after staring at a blank screen for a while on my

computer, I feel like the spirit gave me freedom to just shut it

down. And I went in and told my wife

she was like, I thought you were writing your sermon.

I said I'm going to bed and so still stayed up for a walk.

So I'm a late night person. But I have a very loose skeleton

outline and notes, so I do not know how this is going to go.

If you're visiting, I apologize. Come back next week, I'll be

back in my rhythm and you'll get or go listen to some sermons

online. And if you still hate it, then

that's all I got for you. I am thankful, and I do mean

this, that the spirit of God is not.

He does not need a sermon to show up and move among his

people. He's going to do that

regardless. And so we we come together.

And a lot of things proclaim the gospel, not just this time.

So anyways, I'm going to do what a lot of preachers do, and they

pray because they say they want to pray, but they're really

praying because they're nervous and they want to settle in.

So I'm going to pray, and actually I am confessing

dependence upon God, as always. So let me pray for us and we'll

dive in spirit. We need you.

We are always dependent on you. But as we were reminded this

morning, that there are times where you make us more aware of

that, and that is a grace to us. That not only for something as

simple as a who knows how long sermon this morning, but just

for life, everything from seemingly first world problems

like an HVAC going out to fighting cancer and death and

sickness and pain. We are desperately dependent on

you, so we confess that I confess that this morning thank

you, that we do not have to conjure you up, but that you are

here. Based on your faithfulness, not

ours. Amen.

So you heard the text read Hebrews 11 versus 8 through 20

or 19. It is.

Primarily I'm focusing on Abraham and Sarah, as you can

tell, as you heard from the passage read.

And so. He like when you're taking these

characters, there's a lot about Abraham.

He is like one of the patriarchs.

We could talk all day about Abraham, but what I want to kind

of zoom in on is the parts that Hebrews Chapter 11 talks about.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

I do kind of have this broken up into verses 8 through 10 is this

promise of a place versus 11 through 12 with Sarah is a

promise of a people? And then kind of the rest of it

is how all of that stuff is fulfilled.

And so we talked about Abraham. It says by faith, Abraham, when

he was called, obeyed and set out for a place that he was

going to receive as an inheritance.

So this comes from Genesis chapter 12.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

There is this call to Abraham to go, and someone to read that as

Genesis 12/1 through three it says, the Lord said to Abraham,

go out from your land, your relatives, and your father's

house to the land that I will show you.

I will make you into a great nation.

I will bless you. I will make your name great, and

you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless

you. I will curse anyone who treats

you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed

through you. Verse four says, So Abram went

as the Lord had told him and Lot went with him.

Abram was 75 years old when he left here.

So this is really in Genesis when the story of Abraham begins

and he's called to get up and go.

And he's told that he's going to receive this inheritance, but he

doesn't really know where he's going.

And so as I was processing through this, I think about this

promise of a place. And for me what this promise of

a place, and I think in the scriptures signifies is a place

of rest, a place of belonging. And I don't know if you guys

have ever thought about what home means for you, but just the

place where you can fully be yourself.

When you think about a place where one of the illustrations I

gave at our student camp, a place where you can be home, is

like where you can go into the pantry or into the fridge and

get what you want when you want it with no judgment.

Like we were on a trip to the beach and we stopped about

halfway through this earlier this summer and stayed at my

grandparents house. And so, like, if I wake up at

like 2 in the morning and I'm a little hungry at my old my own

house, like, I don't care if I'm in my boxers or whatever.

Like, I'm going to the fridge and I'm getting out what I want.

I'm going to the pantry and getting out what I want, what my

grandma's house like. I'm a little like I'm not quite

at home. I'm not fully at rest.

I'm like, worried, can I take this?

Is it safe for another day? Things like that.

And so like what I mean by this idea of home is this place where

he can belong. And so there is this promise

given to Abraham to go and you're going to receive this

land, this place of rest. But if you look at the story of

Abraham, it is a story that is anything but that he is a

wonder, his entire story and the whole story.

There's these covenants where God will remind him of these

this place of rest that's going to belong.

But he never actually received it fully.

What he actually received was exile.

He was kind of wondering, and I think about this for.

I know some of you here at New Eden this morning are are

struggling. Even the best of homes that we

have here on Earth are not quite home like.

So this week our HVAC, well, it's been going like in and out

for the last few weeks. The home is under three years

old. I'm like why is this, you know,

whatever. So some of it's under warranty

but of course it doesn't cover labor and the refrigerant that

leaked because your part went bad.

So it's still quite a big bill or whatever.

So the reality is like I'm sitting here and my son's bonus

room is 99 degrees, you know, up here.

It's just like this hot box up here and I'm like, what is

happening, right? And it just we're not completely

at rest. We're not at home.

And so like, if you guys are like me, we have everything from

like seemingly first world problems like that to also the

reality that there is sickness in this world.

There is brokenness. Many of you guys know that my

mom has been struggling with cancer and.

This week, you know, had a surgery and and things are going

well, I guess is all things considered.

But that's just like a snapshot. I know that many of you are

wrestling with brokenness and pain, and the reality is we are

exiles here and we long for healing.

We long for things to be made new and things to be made whole.

And what we're told about Abraham is that he still walked

out in faith and obeyed, even though he did not know where he

was going. And I think for me what I was

challenged by this we we have a preaching team every week where

we discuss things. And those of you that are in

preaching team are like this is not at all what we discussed.

But one thing that did stand out to me in preaching team is this

idea of do we find more rest in where we are going or where we

think we are at or in the one who is with us as we go.

We're told that Abraham stayed as a foreigner in the Land of

Promise, living in tents because he was looking forward to a city

that has foundations. Whose architect and builder is

God. And so there is this promise of

a place and a promise of a place to belong.

And so I think for us, I think my hope is that New Eden Church

is a place where people can belong.

And I've watched you guys care for each other.

I've watched people reach out when their kid is having surgery

and and mills are brought. Or I've watched people have

needs to to move and people step up to help move.

Like there is this, even though we are in this already, not yet

where we live in exile. God promises a family and a

place to belong to his people and we receive that through

these relationships in the church.

And we see this continue not only with the promise of a

place, but although that's also the promise of a people.

And verse 11 We're told that Sarah, by faith when she was

unable to have children, received power to conceive

offspring, even though she was past the age since she

considered that the one who had promised was faithful.

Therefore from one man, in fact from one as good as dad, came

offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and as

innumerable as the grains of sand along the seashore.

Not only was Abraham promised a place, but Sarah and Abraham

both were promised a people. And again, if you read the

story, I, it's amazing to me the way the story of Abraham and

Sarah is recorded, because it's recorded as if Abraham just had

this great faith while he was wondering in exile.

But really he's like being deceitful and kind of pawning

his wife off on people, like kind of weird, you know, like

that's going on. And then you see Sarah, who by

faith, you know, has this great faith on having an offspring,

but she's like, hey, here's Hagar, like, let's make this

happen in our own strength. And if the Abraham story is also

very long, it's easy to think that these things, like these

promises came and then they happen immediately.

They did. Is like 75.

And it's not till 100 that he actually has.

Isaac. You're talking about 25 years,

right? Which looking back in history,

you're like, oh, that's a blip on the radar.

But you go 25 years longing for something, wanting something,

yearning for a homeland, yearning for a family.

And so she was promised that she would have this, this child,

right? And she even laughs.

Abraham laughs first, right? Sarah's the one that's always

remembered. Abraham laughs first.

Then a chapter later got over here, Sarah laughing.

And that's where we get the phrase is anything too hard for

God. And so even though she was

promised the this and what you have to understand too.

And this time people lived longer and a lot of times they

did get to see their they got to see their sons and daughters,

have sons and daughters and even multiple generations.

Well, for Sarah, like when she passes and This is why I

normally have a manuscript to write the stuff down.

But I do know that you have Isaac and Ishmael, and Ishmael

is the one with all the stuff. He's the first born.

Like on paper. What God told her did not,

actually. I mean, she did.

She was barren and she did long for this child Isaac, and she

did receive that. But the full promise of kings

and nations coming from you and all these all nations being

blessed through through their her offspring, was not fulfilled

yet. She actually received a lot of

strife. Go read the story.

Her and Hagar and Ishmael. I mean a lot of deceit, a lot of

anger she had toward Hagar, even though she was the one who who

set it up this way. And so she didn't ultimately

receive what was promised, just like Abraham did ultimately

receive what was promised, but she did receive a fulfillment

from it. And I love, I love the story

because she laughs when God says that she's going to have a

child, and she laughs in disbelief and doubt.

But after she has Isaac, she names him Isaac because she said

that God had brought her laughter, and this was a

laughter of joy. And this is what God does for

his people. He takes our laughter of

incredulous doubt. Like okay.

God okay. Sure.

Like it's been 25 years. God, sure.

Sure, okay, we're sure you're going to do something.

And he turns it to laughter of joy.

And that's, that's my prayer for us.

Like when we think about a people in the family of God and

we we're going to see in a second, all this is like,

ultimately fulfilled in Christ. The reality is that we are all

exiles, longing for home and longing for a family to call our

own. And we all have stories of

origin. Some of our biological families

we remember with fondness and sometimes we don't, and

sometimes families are awkward and sometimes families have

strife and sometimes we have great families.

And that's amazing. But even the best of families?

Have brokenness, but there is a hope that God brings to his

people a family. And like that's one of the

things that that why why the church matters is not because we

just want you to show up here on Sundays, right.

And we're going to track the attendance and make sure that

you know we're we're growing like every church is supposed to

you know, like everyone tells you you're supposed to.

Like, that's not the point. Like when I look out at you guys

and see the family of God, what I see?

Like, seriously, my brothers and sisters.

Like, we're starting this Women's Bible study.

And like, I'm amazed at and I don't.

I I do say, you know, I joke with you guys about, like

pastors always say they're excited about everything.

But I'm seriously excited about this.

Like like the women that God has brought to New Eden, that are my

sisters, older sisters, younger sisters, right to pour into each

other and to minister to me and to teach me things.

It is a gift to our family. Like and to get to sit back and

just watch God work in the midst of a broken world.

And in the midst of a world that has broken families and broken

marriages, and sometimes we're like, is this ever going to be

whole? And maybe wondering children.

Or maybe you wanted one of your family of your own, and it's not

turned out that way. It's like God gives us in the

here and now the opportunity to experience actually having

brothers and sisters. Like we actually are family.

We're not like family. We are family.

And so and and that means sometimes yes, we don't have

conflict and and we don't always get along And you got the

awkward uncle right. But like one day that will all

be fulfilled, right. One day it will all be made new.

And there's a beauty here in this because sometimes in our

life we wonder will we belong right.

I know some like I I as as a pastor like I it feels weird

saying this because I feel like sometimes pastors do this to

gain pity. And I judge pastor.

Sometimes you're like, oh, being a pastor is so hard.

And all this stuff and you know, it's actually not a bad gig.

I'm just joking that's it's not a gig there.

There is something unique to to the pastor in the sense and I

don't talk about this a lot. You guys know this, but I get to

know about a lot of your struggles and I'm thankful for

plurality. I'm thankful for Kevin and Mark,

one of our elder candidates and the fact that we can share

these. But I don't always get to share

them with you because it's confidential and I'm not going

to go share somebody's junk with you, but you get this.

Sacred invitation into like the highest highs and the lowest

lows. And like sometimes you're going

from a lunch for someone celebrating something amazing

and you're like celebrating with them to then you're going to

someone who's like just the world is falling apart and

you're like, I don't know how to deal with this.

And so there's some heaviness here, like, and I know that

there's brokenness in our body and also there's incredible joys

and we want to be able to sit in the grief and the joy

simultaneously. We try to do that well, but

sometimes it's just hard. And I'm like, just come quickly.

Like, I just want things to be made new.

Like, we are longing. There's even a word that we have

at Homesick, right? Like, we know that there is

something that we want to be home.

Something is not right. And there's times where I'm just

like, God, come quickly. Is he really good?

Like, I know you say you are, but like, I look at what the

facts are right in front of my face, and it doesn't seem that

good right now. God.

But what I love what we see in this story.

Sarah says she considered the one who had promised was

faithful, and she's remembered based on like the slight amount

of faith she had. She had a crap ton of doubts,

like she doubted a lot, but she's remembered because the one

who Promised was faithful. And what this all points us to

it. All of Hebrews is what all of

Hebrews 11 is pointing us to, is to fix our eyes on Jesus, the

founder and perfector of her faith.

That that's I don't know how many times.

At the end of the day, I'm like, you know, there's a lot I don't

know. There's a lot of questions I

have. There's a lot of doubts I have

and I'm like Sarah, I like to laugh and doubt sometimes

because that's just, you know, I find the humor in it, but it's

like at the end of the day, the one who promised is faithful.

I'm going to read 13 through 16 again.

This is not only referring to Abraham and Sarah, but all of

the people mentioned before this.

And it says that these all died in faith although they had not

received the things that were promised.

So if you think the promise to Sarah was just about having

Isaac and getting over that Baroness, so now she was more

accepted in the culture. Like that was a piece of God

doing something, but there was so much more.

Same for Abraham, you think about him receiving a little bit

of land and a little plot of land somewhere in the Middle

East. Like it's so much more, is

clearly says they did not receive the things that were

promised, but they saw them from a disc.

Residents greeted them and confessed that they were

foreigners and temporary residents on the earth.

Now those who say such things make it clear that they are

seeking homeland. If they were thinking about

where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to

return. But they now desire a better

place, a having havingly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to

be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Ultimately, the longing in our hearts, the homesickness in our

hearts, it might can be fulfilled somewhat in this life.

And I do believe that as Christians we should, as the

Exiles we're told in Babylon, to build houses and live in them,

plant, produce, seek the good of the city.

Like I I hope that you can make your home to be this place of

Shalom where you can invite people into and they can

experience a little bit of heaven on earth.

But good luck keeping it that way, right?

Like you, you can we move into a new home three years ago, Like,

go look at the walls now, right? Like someone decided to buy a

metal buggy for our kids, you know, And then our kids decided

to push it. Actually, it might have been

somebody else's kid, but it doesn't matter.

It was pushed down the chair. It was.

I was just remembered that I was like, don't feel bad, I don't

care. But here's the point.

We're going somewhere. It was pushed down the stairs

and like a missional community for something and boom, there's

like a hole in the wall right there, right?

But that's the thing, like, that's not about the physical

home or even for us as a church. It's not about the physical

building. It's about the people that God

is creating. And so we should, we should try

to create that. But the reality is all of that,

right? Like it's it's wood, hay and

stubble in the sense that if we're building it for our own

kingdoms, it will burn. If you go build a home because

you just want to like kind of, you know, help out your own

finances or invest in land or like good, go do that, buy dirt

or whatever that country song says.

It's kind of weird, like, go do that.

But here's the thing, at the end of the day, like it is all about

the new Jerusalem coming down and God creating all things new.

And so we hold up like we are longing for something better.

We are looking for a city who's builder, maker is God.

And here's the thing. For God to fulfill this promise

of both the place of rest and Shalom, to fulfill his promise

of a people from every nation, tribe and tongue that gathers

around the throne united around Jesus.

For him to do that required great sacrifice, and this is

what we see imaged in verse 17 through 19.

We're told that Abraham, when he was tested, he offered up his

only son, Isaac. Remember, this is Isaac, the one

that we were told was the promised one.

And and don't get too caught up, it is weird God telling someone

to kill Isaac. It's OK that you like, have a

little clutch here. First of all, this is like a

singular moment in history. This is not a pattern.

And this is a clear, a clear picture of the gospel.

It was there as a foreshadowing. I'm not saying it didn't really

happen. My point is this is a clear

moment in history. Also, Isaac is like 15 years

old. And part of this is the

submissiveness of the son in his own sacrifice that we often

miss. This is a father and a son that

have a promise that all nations of the earth are going to be

blessed. And then it is a, a, a trusting

and saying. Isaac is there walking up the

mountain, and Isaac says, we got the wood, we got this, Where's

the sacrifice? And Abraham says God will

provide for himself the sacrifice, the land God will

provide. And Isaac willingly again.

He's 15. Like he's a strong young man.

He he could fight this, but he doesn't.

He willingly climbs on the altar and here we see the unity of of

this father and this son willing to be sacrificed.

And we know the story that God the Angel stops the sacrifice

and there's a ram given in the thicket.

And then the mountain is named the place where the Lord will

provide. On this mountain the Lord will

provide. This is a clear picture to the

sacrifice that Jesus went through and that the Father went

through to bring us a place and a people.

Jesus lived his life just like Abraham in exile.

He had nowhere to lay his head. He was homeless.

He was a foreigner. His own people even rejected

him. He was did not fit into anyone

circle one category. He was alone, and with his death

He He gives this sacrifice because of our own sin and

because of our rejection of that we are all created to to bear

God's image, and we've rejected that.

We were created to be in union with him, but we pushed that

away, and so God did not leave us.

Instead, He sent his one and only Son did not withhold him.

Jesus willingly walked up Calvary's Mountain and climbed

on an altar of wood to give up his own life, trusting that his

father could not just figuratively bring him back from

the dead, as it happened with Isaac, as we're told in Hebrews

11. But literally, like, Jesus was

literally dead and he literally rose again to defeat death and

sin and the enemy. And in doing so, like, read the

New Testament, he is creating a new family, a new people of God.

That is the primary word we here referred to as the church's

family. That's why when Paul says

brothers and sisters, it's not just like this flippant word,

like he actually means it. Right.

And I grew up where it's kind of weird because we called

everybody brother so and so we never called anybody sister so

and so I don't know why but it was like brother so and so right

and that's cool if you do that. I'm not knocking that but it's

like I've I've probably grown to appreciate that a little bit

that like. No.

Literally like you guys are my brothers and sisters in Christ

and and yes we are in this exilic state where we are in the

already not yet. And and there's this piece of it

that we've received but it's going to be in its fullness.

But it does break forth into the present.

Like it actually matters. Like what God is doing in

eternity is not just sweet by and by like sweet Beulah Land.

Yes. I'm like longing for that.

I like that song. I almost quoted it but it's kind

of weird. But it's nobody knows what

Beulah means. That's why it's weird.

But anyways this is so weird. This is why I have a manuscript

I'm telling you. And this is what my brain does.

And yes it's not just sweet by and by.

It is in the present And you see this in the Gospels.

Jesus says for anyone that for for sakes all to follow me.

You lay down your life, that you will receive houses and lands

and brothers and sisters. And he says not only in the age

to come, but now there is no other way to interpret that

except that meaning the the local church, the people that

you're sitting in. Like we come together and we say

it's all yours, our houses, our lands.

I know that's not very American of us, but it is biblical of us

like it is yours. Somebody has a need like I'm

calling who's got a portable air conditioner.

Somebody help me out. Right.

Like here you can use it. You can borrow it.

It is. It is not all it's it's ours

together as the Church trusting the Spirit of God to work in us.

And so we live in this state, looking back to the cross and

resurrection, where Jesus said it is finished and he dealt with

our sin and our brokenness and our shame, and he's redeeming us

and making us new. But we also look forward, just

like Abraham, to that city, that new Jerusalem that will come

down and all tears will be wiped away, All sickness or pain will

cease. Parties that have been broken

will be restored. Legs that were lame will dance a

celebration. Mouths that were mute will sing.

Ears that were deaf will hear the praises of God as we gather

around the throne and sing holy, holy, holy.

And it will be way more diverse than even this, than the city of

Decatur will be like, more diverse.

All nations, tribes and tongues. That is going to happen.

And as I say a lot. The only question is, do you

want to play a part? And it's why we give money.

It's why we send. Like, we've been thinking about

this recently, like, and it's not just like sending people,

but sending people. Like sending.

It's so weird to say send your best.

But what I mean is like people you love, like, do I believe

this enough that if one of my kids someday wants to move

overseas to a group of people that have never heard the gospel

that I'll celebrate that and there will be a grief.

Like, I acknowledge that there's a grief in just a couples that

we've sent it. New Eden.

Like, I love these brothers and sisters.

Like they're not just like these are guys that I've done life

with for the last 5-6 years and there's a sadness, but it's

worth it. We're going to be together.

We're homesick. We're looking forward to that

city. And it will happen because the

one who is promised is faithful. And this vision, it changes us.

It breaks forth into the present and in the midst of everything

from cancer and sickness to broken marriages to wondering

children to just the silly things of life like HVAC going

out or whatever it is your car breaking down, like I don't know

what it is for you. We're going to have a hope that

the one who promised was faithful and that all that is

not meaningless. Abraham's years of wondering

were not meaningless. They stand as a testament to the

goodness of God years later. Sarah's years of barrenness and

jealousy and envy and wrestle was not meaningless.

It stands as a testament to the goodness of God, who will take

suffering and turn it to joy, who will take ashes and turn it

to beauty. This is the good news of

Abraham.