God wanted faith, the Bible says, and that is the lesson Abraham finally learned. He learned to believe when there was no reason left to believe. And although he did not live to see the Hebrews fill the land as the stars fill the sky, Abraham did live to see Sarah bear one child - just one - a boy, who forever preserved the memory of absurd faith, for his name Isaac meant “laughter.”
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And the pattern continued: Isaac married a barren woman, as did his son Jacob. The esteemed matriarchs of the covenant - Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel - all spent their best childbearing years slender and in despair. They too experienced the blaze of revelation, followed by dark and lonely times of waiting that nothing but faith would fill.
A gambler would say God stacked the odds against himself. A cynic would says God taunted the creatures he was supposed to love. The Bible simply uses the cryptic phrase “by faith” to describe what they went through. Somehow, that “faith” was what God valued, and it soon became clear that faith was the best way for humans to express a love for God.
Philip Yancey, Disappointment With God. (via clickpause)
Somehow these words speak to me tonight as I attempt to quiet down from a whole day of work. I do not know what they exactly mean but I know my spirit agrees with what the words are saying. The hurried pace of the past few days keep me from truly breathing in each moment now but I never go by without stopping and taking note of that moment that made me still and know that God is present.
