Abraham

"For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." - Hebrews 11:10

What is it about those words that get my meditative juices flowing? I have long been pondering these words of the New Testament that distill the life of Abraham as recorded in the Old Testament. He was looking for a city. He was proactively seeking to find an eternal habitation that consumed his life. The city he was in quest of was no ordinary city. The architect did not have the fingerprints of fallen man on its design. God was the builder and the foundations were sure and unshakable. No earthquake, tidal wave, hurricane, or other natural disaster could destroy this eternal city.

But how did his life reflect such a journey? What clues along the way caused him to stop and look around to see if he was still on the right trail? The first thing Abraham did was leave his home by faith and start looking for a land that he had never seen and had no idea where it lay. We are called to do the same. We are to leave the comforts of this life and move as God directs us toward our heavenly home. Our journey toward the same city will take place in the world. We will fail along the way as Abraham did. We will doubt and fear. We might even give birth to some Ishmaels along the way. We will be called to lay down an Isaac or two. God directed this man through chastening and reward. He started slow but finished strong.

When he was told by God to offer up his son Isaac, he was willing to do so without hesitation. Why? Because he had learned in his pilgrimage that God does not lie, and since Isaac was the promised son through whom the Messiah would come, then the only way God could keep the promise would be to bring Isaac back from the dead. Abraham by faith was forced to think in terms that made no sense at all. In Romans 4 we read these remarkable words, "And being fully persuaded that, what he (God) had promised, he was able also to perform." Here we see that Abraham and Sarah were past the years of child bearing, but God does not lie; therefore a miraculous birth must take place.

Since God kept His promise regarding the birth, He would have to keep his promise that Isaac would have children. Abraham therefore believed in resurrection power. Our lives should reflect a similar pattern as we walk this narrow road. That's the way I see things.