From barrenness to blessing

Dear family,

A couple, whom i am really close with, has a powerful story about the journey from barrenness to blessing. They wanted children. They were loving. Kind. Gracious. Amazing people. They could and would make awesome parents. But they weren't having any luck. Nothing worked. They went to specialists, nothing. They tried every possible angle, and yet nothing seemed to work. They began the conversation about adopting, when the church they attended had a guest speaker, and that speaker brought them something they needed: a blessing from God.
This speaker told them they could be expecting a child, and that child would be a son. No. They weren't told to name him Abram, John, or even Jesus, but they were told this child would be the blessing they sought. Did they doubt? Of course, who wouldn't. Did they have many days/nights, where they worried if it were to happen? Yes. Then a month after the "message," my friend's wife went to the doctor, and they had good news. No. They had miraculous news. They were going to have a child.
And that child is a beautiful boy, who is healthy and loving. And this couple gets to shower this young miracle with all the love they have in them, and that boy is one lucky kid. He will be loved without end, but more than that, he will be evidence of how God blesses. More than that, how awesome those blessings truly are.
When we think of blessing, we have to rehearse the Abraham--Sarah narrative. Theirs is a story rooted in blessing, and it is a blessing that doesn't necessarily happen during their life time. It is a blessing of the "not yet" variety. And it is a blessing attached to an instruction from God: GO!
God tells Abram, Sarai, and Lot to go. Go into this foreign land. Go where you have no idea what to expect. Leave your family. Leave what you know. And start a new life, in a new area, with new people, and when you do this, God says, "I will bless you." They go. We assume they left because of their great faith and trust in God, but the text doesn't illuminate that. We read that into it. It could be. Or. It could be, like the rest of us, they had reservations. They wrestled with the charge to go. They argued, amongst themselves, about the 'practicality' of going to an area and starting over. Whatever they struggled with or did not struggle with, they went. And what was their immediate reward?
Famine. Not a huge area lush with green grass for their flocks. Not an area dripping with water that would enable them to live long, healthy, happy lives. Not even an area ideal for doing anything, so what is their first reality? They have to venture further, into a land that is known to be, at best, unsafe for people like Abraham and Sarah. But to survive, they have to go.
It is a powerful story, isn't it? God instructing Abraham and Sarah, and they obey. God promises blessings, beyond imaginations, and they hold onto it. This would be a great way to end this chapter, an ending not unlike my friends, but this is not how 12 ends. Is it?
No. They make their way to Egypy, and because Sarah is beautiful, Abraham tells her to deceive Pharoah. "Tell this powerful king that you are my sister, and not my wife, because if he finds out you are my wife, he will let me die. But if he thinks you are my sister, well he will let me live. More than that, he will bless me." In essence, Abraham tells Sarah, i am going to survive and thrive at your expense.
How many of you, after reading this part of 12, get a little nauseous? Or. Do you find yourself in the camp with many from our small group, who suggested that God gave Abraham this idea, so that Abraham and Sarah would survive and thrive? Martin Luther shares this view. But the text makes no mention of this, but it does hint that Abraham wanted to deceive Pharoah, and that because of the deception, God punished Pharoah. If God created the deception, does that mean God intended to punish Pharoah all along?
Or could it be, as others have argued, that Abraham, like most of us, was human. In his fear of death, in his fear of loss, and in his fear of being left to fend for himself, he thought of a way to beat the odds. It would only cost Sarah her identity for a brief moment, and in the end, they would probably be better off anyway. If this is the case, then it illustrates that Abraham was truly human, with all the frailities and unfaith that many of us, when facing life/death situations also become overwhelmed with. And yet, even in his unfaith, God blesses Abraham.
It should be noted that old Abe didnt' get off scot free. He was banished, deported from the lush land of Egypt, sent back to the Negev, which was the site of the famine and drought. So. In reality, Abraham, though richer, still faced the struggle to survive a drought that could have killed him and the blessing. But Abraham survives the drought as well, doesn't he. Not only does he survive, but Abraham becomes the foundation for which the blessings of God become real for all generations. Abraham and Sarah, still barren, were continuing their journey from barrenness to blessing.
And their house was increasing, illustrating that God was indeed blessing them, but there was still one piece missing from this, and that would have been the final illustration of God's blessing. It would be nice to end the story of Abe and Sarah on a positive note, but as all too often, even God's most amazing heroes fall, often. And they will too. It is not their fallen nature that we should focus in on, but in their ability to regain their composure and return to the blessing, over and over. Heroes aren't faith filled giants that move mountains, as we see in Abraham and Sarah, they are simple folks, like all of us, who face mountains of challenges and somehow find the strength and the faith to continue on our own journeys from barrenness to blessing.
Amen..

Shalom,
jerry