Faith and disappointment
I've done all the right things, put in the hours, done the homework, but the results just don't come, and as far as I can see they never will. I really want to give up, but I suppose I shall just have to keep on.' Whether it's pension investments that don't work out, teenage children who drift away, the management of a business project that fails to achieve results, or praying for someone who is as far from God as ever, at one level or another we all have to cope with disappointment, even when we have done everything we could to ensure success.
This too was Abram's experience. In Genesis 15, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: 'Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.' But Abram said, 'O Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?'
Abram's problem was that a very specific promise about becoming a great nation could only happen if he had a son. He had lived faithfully as far as he could, and had been blessed with prosperity. But what was the point if the one necessary ingredient for success was missing? When he heard the Lord speak words of further blessing, he could only reply, 'Yes, but... there is no child'. There was no son, no descendant, no nation, just some goods and land that would be added to someone else's stock when he died. And that would be that.
But then, the Lord took him outside and said, 'Look up at the heavens and count the stars - if indeed you can count them'. Then God said to him, 'So shall your offspring be'. Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:5-6)
So in response to Abram's cry of despair, the Lord repeated the promise - and Abram believed him. He jumped from doubt into faith and so cleared the ground for a miracle - not just one baby boy, but descendants as countless as the stars in a clear pre-pollution sky.
Actually there still was no child, only the increasing impossibility of one - nothing had changed except the Lord had spoken again, the promise had been repeated and Abram believed.
We too are called to 'a long obedience in the same direction', not to quick results. We need to work steadily and be prepared to wait for results we may never see. Have faith in the Lord. He accepts that, not just the things we achieve.
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