Jarvis & Abby – Chapter 1

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Last evening, I spent time visiting on our back deck with the newlyweds – my precious Abby, and her wonderful husband, Jarvis. It was just the three of us and with the wedding and honeymoon now behind them, we were talking about what’s next.

Well, I’ll tell you what’s next. Next will be my temptation to give them all the advice I can to secure for them the best start to this new chapter:

• Don’t ignore each other when you’re angry. It’s just a waste of time.
• Your house is a reflection of your heart. If it’s always a mess, grab your Bible before you grab a broom.
• Make your bed every morning.
• Take the Dave Ramsey “Financial Peace” course now while you’re young. You’ll thank me later.

You know I could go on and on, but, for the sake of time, I will stop there. I have actually prayed that God would help me to refrain from constantly giving them “helpful” advice. I know I’m at risk of being “that mom.” Ugh!

Understanding my tendency to “advise,” I have decided there is only one thing I will not cease to speak of and that is the faithfulness of God.

6And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7

Let’s go back to my conversation with them on the back deck last night. What’s Next? Where would God lead? What did He want for this new chapter? We talked for quite a while about these questions and I had a heavy realization as a parent that I shared with Mark later.

I told him, “This is the start of their journey. Think about all the trials we’ve been through and all God has done for us! Watching them experience joys and sorrows will probably be harder than going through them ourselves.”

So what’s a parent to do as you watch your children journey through the difficulties of this life? Give incessant advice? I’ll tell you what I plan to do. Pray. Pray. Pray. Oh, and pray, pray, and pray some more.

This morning, I was praying for them and asking God to help them to trust Him, to look to Him, and to follow Him. And from my quiet time, God spoke a message I began to type out to them in a text…a long text. This is the text I sent them this morning:

The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”  Genesis 18:17b-19

This morning I was praying for you both and I was excited as I considered the wonderful works of God.  In my quiet time, I came upon the passage you just read. God had just come to Abraham in the previous verses and told him that the time had come to give them a son and that Abraham would be the father of many nations.  Sarah (now 90 years old) was in the tent and she laughed “to herself.”  No one else knew what she was thinking EXCEPT for the Lord. We see Him asked her point-blank, “Why did you laugh at this?”

I got to thinking about what was behind her “laughing to herself.”  Yes, she was beyond child-bearing age but more than that she had endured years of infertility.  Think of the shame she must’ve dealt with (in those days it was a huge deal to be infertile).  By this time, she had probably come to grips with being “faulty/broken/‘less than’.” To hope for a child now might’ve seemed ridiculous and dangerous to her wounded and perhaps now calloused heart.  Maybe even the suggestion of having a child now seemed like an insensitive offer from God.  Science said it was too late – because of her age and her infertility.  But science originated with God.  In response to her laughter, He said to her, “Is anything impossible with God?”

Also, don’t forget.  The first time God told Abraham he would have a son was when he was 75 years old.  Twenty-five years had passed.  Maybe she was laughing because this was a promise that was a long time coming. Maybe she wondered if was an empty promise.  “Here we go again.”

So we see an old couple.

We see an infertile woman.

We see an unfulfilled promise.

Not the best of circumstances.

Guys, often it’s when the circumstances seem the bleakest to us that God steps in.  It is then that we know the way forward is only by His power and plan – not our charisma, not our skills or talents, not our efforts. Just God.

So let me get to the point.  Just after the whole scene where God says “You will have a son,” and addresses Sarah’s heart, He then asked the question, “Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?”  

During my quiet time, I felt urged to jot in my journal a word of encouragement for the two of you and I’m finally getting to that:

Can God trust you with His plan? Can He reveal to you the path He plans to take you on and trust that you will walk with Him in joyful communion no matter the twists and turns?  

Think about it, to this point Abraham and Sarah had simply been waiting for a son. They hadn’t yet seen how much more God would unfold to them.  Would they trust Him now after years of waiting?  Was God’s timing off?  Was He careless in the fulfillment of it?  From man’s perspective, I am sure these questions came.  But what was God’s perspective?

What was it that God saw in Abraham and Sarah?

19 For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”  

Jarvis and Abby, I have no doubt that God’s hand is on you both.  You are one flesh and He has singled you out for a divine purpose.  But it requires fully trusting Him.  Does the Lord have to hide from you what He is about to do because He is still waiting for you to trust Him fully?  He will continue to bring you into His promises for you.  He is a faithful God. And while He does, He will pour out on you His continual love and mercy, His fellowship and presence.  And I am excited to see what that divine purpose will look like as it unfolds in the chapters of your life.  But joy doesn’t have to come only when the promise is fulfilled. He promises the joy of His presence on the journey with those who are willing to trust and follow Him.

He walks with the willing – all hopes and plans on the table.

I am praying for you both and I have asked others who love you dearly to pray with me.  We are cheering you on.  You are kingdom warriors.  Rise up and go with God. 

Whatever each day holds…see the big picture – see a big God.

I love you.