Reflection: Body good-as-dead…but for promises

‘The wise man built his house upon the rock.’ 

You sang it? Generations have sung it.

‘And the rains came tumbling down.’

Maybe Noah sang a version of it about the foolish generations that preceded him.

Maybe Abraham sang a version of it about the generations that preceded him.

Hebrews 11 tells us that these and other patriarchs, with hell-bent bodies like ours, established themselves by standing on the promises of God and that turned the tide of unbelieving humankind.

God’s image-bearers in blood and bone, believing; hoping in promises of goodness yet to come.

‘And the house upon the rock stood firm.’

Something’s seriously wrong in God’s world when people exchange his honour for their own. And what follows is a tragic fallen domino trail of fractured relationships between us … and between us and God’s creation. But it’s not like his hands are tied. It’s his beloved world and he’s got the whole world in his hands.

God proposed a three-fold solution to Abraham (family, land and blessing) that invited his trusting participation. And then he gifted his people Scripture: Hebrew writings that spelled how to live an authentic life in a broken world.

Prayer:

We mourn the angst of our fractured world. We need a safe place to anchor ourselves. Gracious Lord, disturb your world with a longing for what’s best and yet to come. Responding to your invitation, enable us to trust you and to live in authentic love with each other, with you, and in your creation.