Genesis – Promises
Ask.
- Do you ever wonder if life has a point?
- Do you ever wonder if you’re a part of a bigger plan for the world?
- Or do ever wonder if there even is a God?
- And if there is, does God even care about us enough to be part of our lives?
Listen.
A family sat by a campfire. A mother and father, their three children and an ancient, stooped-over grandmother looked up at the night sky. It was full of stars, many more than could be counted. In fact, there was not even a number large enough in their language for just how many stars they could see. They had built the fire just outside of their tent, which was a little ways off from the tents of their neighbors, who were also sitting outside of their own tents by their own fires.
This temporary camp of thousands and tents and campfires was their home, where all the members of their nation slept each night, as they had every night since Moses had taken them out of Egypt and slavery to this place, this unforgiving wilderness of jagged rocks and dry ground.
The youngest child in the family was a boy of six years. He had been an infant when they had left Egypt. His father had held him close in his arms as the Angel of Death passed through the land, killing the first-born of all the Egyptians and finally breaking the will of the Pharaoh who had then released the people from their enslavement. This life in the wilderness was all the boy had ever known — breaking down camp every morning, marching all day with only what they could carry or put on the back of their donkey, and then making camp again each night. He had only ever tasted manna, the strange food that dropped from the sky so that they would not starve as they made their way to the land that God had promised their ancestors.
“How did we get to be here?” asked the boy. He didn’t mean how did they get to be in this desert. What he wanted to hear were the stories of his people and their God. He knew them all by heart but there was nothing like hearing them out loud from his elders. And as he looked up to the heavens he was overcome by the desire to hear them again.
His older sisters leaned in close to hear as their grandmother told the stories of the first people, a man named Adam and a woman named Eve, their perfect garden, the temptation to disobey God’s rules for their lives. The wicked people who began to fill the land. The few good people who listened to God and how even those good people struggled to trust that God would see them through. The promises that God made over and over to give them their own land, to make them a great nation. She finished telling them the stories just as the children’s eyes became heavy and they drifted into sleep.
Father carried them into the tent one at a time and laid each of them down one next to the other on the blanket that they shared. As he walked back outside to put out the fire for the night, he looked up at the stars for himself and wondered what part he would play in the story of God’s chosen people. He knew that he was not a perfect man. He had often questioned God’s wisdom in his heart. He had grumbled about Moses’ leadership. He had struggled to overcome his own fears that God would abandon his family in this wilderness and leave his children to die of the elements. Even as he had seen the power of God in the plagues that had brought the Egyptians to their knees, the waters that had parted for his family to cross to safety and then crashed back upon the army on their heels, seen the great cloud that every day led their family through their wandering, even still he had doubts in his hear that this God was that faithful and that he himself was a good enough man to be worthy of such a God’s love. And as he thought of these things, he quietly repeated to himself the promises that God had made to his ancestors.
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the LORD smelled the pleasing odor, the LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done. (Genesis 8:20-21 NRSV)
Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you, I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3 NRSV)
On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.” (Genesis 15:18-21)
Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God. (Genesis 17:3-8)
Repeating these promises of God brought peace to his heart and he slept deeply that night. He knew that the path ahead was a dangerous one. He knew that it was likely that only his children would live to see the promised land. But he rested in the knowledge that their God always kept his promises.
Think.
Why are we here? What’s the point?
As long as there have been people, there have been questions about the meaning of life. The Egyptians had multiple explanations for the role of humans in the world, each account was based on a different god but all of them saw humans as of not much importance to the gods except for the pharoahs. The ancient Sumerians, the Hebrews’ neighbors to the east, believed that humans were created by the gods because they were tired of doing all the work. Others believed that their gods looked down upon humans as weak or dangerous threats to the order of the universe.
But our spiritual ancestors, the Hebrews, knew that God had created them as an essential part of the world and had a deep care for them. Yes, God had created a perfect world for us and we had screwed it up. But he had not given up on us. Even as we disobeyed God and got ourselves into all kinds of trouble, God would not totally abandon us to our own self-destructive actions. He would stand by us. He would work around us and in us. He would make this known to us through his promises, or covenants. And one day all would be made perfect again.
Remember.
You’re not alone if you’ve ever asked these questions. Our faith ancestors struggled with these questions too, especially during rough times, like when they were enslaved or wandering through a brutal landscape surrounded by their enemies. If you’re enslaved by your own doubts or shortcomings or past sins or an addiction….if you feel like you are moving along with no purpose or are going through a difficult time in your life, know this: God loves you and wants to be part of your journey. In fact, God has made a promise to never let you go through anything alone. Not everything will be perfect along the way. But you will have the perfect companion.
Pray.
Tell God where you are right now, physically, whether you’re in Sunday school, at the beach or in the back of your family’s minivan, wherever. Describe to God what your physical environment is like. Now tell God where you are right now, spiritually. Tell God if you are in a good place or a bad place. Be honest with God if you’re having a hard time trusting him to get you through life. Invite God to be a bigger part of your journey.
More.
The Creation narrated by H.L Parker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fQbBk8GOEs
The words to this video are an excerpt from “God’s Trombone” by James Weldon Johnson.
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