Just Watch

One thing I love about a good story is a conclusion where everything is wrapped up cleanly. No threads are left bare, trajectories have reached their destination. This chapter begins feeling that way. We are given the final years of Abraham's life in a rapid fire succession of children's names, activities, and final destinations. He has lived well, scattered his seed into the world, and is now coming to the end of his days, old and full of years. There is something satisfying about this. He made it. He saw the three promises made to him fulfilled. Yes, it took him his full life to see them realized, but it was done. Yes, he made many mistakes and sinned a bunch throughout his life, but here it is all laid out for us, so clean, so complete. 

What do you want the end of your life to look like? We are spared the ugly details like what and how much was hurting in Abraham's body, but what do you want this part of your life to look like? Do you want those days of your life marked by gratitude of how God has worked even in the hard times? How does one even achieve a life like this? 

Do you think about it, or does the very thought terrify you? I think that there is a shared fear amongst parents and children, leaders and their followers: what life is going to look like without them. Parents can look at their children and wonder how on earth God is going to do something with them. Children can easily look at parents and wonder what will life be like without their guidance, even the guidance that they resent at the moment. When we get used to God working through certain people, certain channels, it becomes harder to remember that God is the one actually making all of this work. 

We are in the middle of yet another intense election cycle. Part of the angst comes from the real question of how is God going to bring good out of what is happening today. Once agin, buried in a pile of names, is a story of God's faithfulness and redemption for a truly unexpected people. Our two points today will be God has a plan for the unplanned and God will continue to work through that plan without a patriarch.