Walk By Faith, Not By Sight Series

FINISHING WELL (GENESIS 24:1-25:9)

A month between February and March 2013 was not a good month for two of my seminary professors or me. Bible study guru Howard Hendricks, the author of “Iron Sharpens Iron” and “Living by the Book” who inspired more people in Bible study than anyone I know, passed away on February 20, 2013, after a distinguished 60 years career teaching at Dallas Theological Seminary. He made such an impact that they have a building named after him. He taught students the importance of repetition, comparison, contrast and other structural markers and always bid us to be imaginative, creative, unique, original and fun.

The next professor cuts deeper. In March 2012, Roy Zuck, the senior editor of the seminary’s theological journal who had written 15 books and edited over a hundred others, kindly offered his editing services to former students and I was quick to grab it. The cost was about half of what I pay for editing my doctoral dissertation. All in all, he edited four books in English for me – Parables of Life, Genesis, Amazing Couples, and Moses. I submitted another but did not hear from him for a while. Less than a month after Hendricks’ death, the 81-year-old Zuck followed his colleague. I cried, but it was a wakening experience for me. The Lord impressed my heart to follow them into literature ministry. A coworker printed my motto “Rise and Shine, In memory of Howard Hendricks” for it to be posted on my office door.

Abraham traveled a long way from his native Ur to Canaan. Along the road his father died. The Promised Land was not a bed of roses by any means. Abraham betrayed his wife in Egypt when a famine struck, separated from Lot as their fortunes grew, took a concubine at his wife’s insistence but later had Isaac with the aged Sarah and witnessed the departure of Ishmael, his other son.

However, whenever Abraham stumbled, slipped or stalled, faith rescued him, pulled him out of trouble and put him back on his feet. A man of faith is not perfect in faith but persistent in faith. Abraham’s triumph over his shortcomings, mistakes, weaknesses, blunders and faults was nothing short of a miracle. He eventually overcame his inadequacies, suspicions and fears and transformed himself into a giant in faith.

How does a person of faith finish well in his relationship to God, in his journey through life and in being neighborly to others? What are his responsibilities and challenges as he or she ages? What motivates and sustains his faith through ups and downs and through thick and thin?

A Man of Faith is a Promise-Keeper

24:1 Abraham was now old and well advanced in years, and the LORD had blessed him in every way. 2 He said to the chief servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh. 3 I want you to swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, 4 but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.” 5 The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?” 6 “Make sure that you do not take my son back there,” Abraham said. 7 “The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’--he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there. 8 If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.” (Gen 24:1-8)

Hans was a little shepherd boy who lived in Germany. One day, when he was keeping his master’s sheep, a hunter rode up to him out of the forest. “How far is it to the nearest village, my boy?” asked the hunter, “It is six miles, sir,” replied Hans. “But the road is only a sheep track. You might easily miss your way.”

“My boy,” said the hunter, leaning down from his horse, ‘if you will take me there I will pay you well.” Hans shook his head. “I cannot leave the sheep, sir,” he said. “They would stray in the forest and the wolves might eat them.”

“But if one or two sheep are lost or eaten,” said the hunter, “I will pay you well for them. I will give you more than you can earn in a year.” “No, sir,” said Hans. “The sheep belong to my master. If they are lost, I should be to blame.”