Waiting and Receiving
“When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument.” (Hebrews 6:13-16 )
I am waiting for something promised by God. There are some details that I am not sure of, and to be honest there is very little about what I am waiting for that I know of. But just like Abraham had the surety that what he was promised would come about, I have that same surety . . . I think. Now in my defense Abraham was not as sure as the writer of Hebrews makes him out to be. Abraham thought it was in his power to make the promise come about. Thus Ishmael was born. But Ishmael, though God blessed him, was not the promise. The fulfillment of the promise was yet to come. And so as I wait, I cling to that hope; the hope that Abraham had and all of his physical and faith descendents. We are his faith descendents, we who believe and hope in God.
The Anabaptists, concerning the subject of swearing and oaths, interpreted this passage as saying that anything that was promised by swearing to God must be something that was absolute. Menno Simons said, “I will by the grace of God show the sympathetic reader from the Word of God what the holy Scriptures at given times teach and imply concerning the swearing of oaths. . . . the reader should observe that Israel was bound by the law when it concerned a matter of life or death to swear by the name of the Lord and to keep their oath. As Moses says, And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of they God; I am the Lord. This oath settled all disputes among
Israel.”
You may be curious what I am waiting for. But what I am waiting for is less important than how I wait. Really! The temptation is to think like Abraham I am the agent of the fulfillment. Abraham’s task was to be ready for God’s promise to come about. But Abraham overstepped his role thinking that he knew how it should come about. The writer of Hebrews says Abraham patiently waited, but that is not quite true. And the part of Abraham’s story that the writer of Hebrews is pointing to is in fact not when Abraham was waiting for Isaac to be conceived and born, but on the mountain when a ram was provided for a sacrifice instead of Abraham’s precious son.
So I guess it is alright (isn’t it?) if I am impatient, worry, fret, and try to make the promise come about apart from God’s plan. The thing to remember is that it will happen because it is promised by God. My prayer is that I would wait patiently in anticipation of God acting based on God’s actions of the past. If you are waiting also for God’s promise, may you wait in patience also anticipating receiving the fulfillment in God’s time. Selah!
