Looking for a city
- Mark Boucher
- Mar 26
- 3 min read
Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
We have been on this blogging journey to explore what real faith is. We have seen through the heroes listed in Hebrews 11 some amazing, true stories of genuine faith. From a casual observation, we can glean that our God uses imperfect people. Too often, we compare ourselves to others and think things like, "It might be great for God to use him or her because they’re like a super Christian or a holy saint who has never made a mistake or struggled a day in their lives." Sarah was like this. She clearly compared herself to those around her, which led to her acting in the flesh and suggesting that Abram use her servant because she felt she wasn’t good enough. It took Sarah many trials and much soul-searching, even mocking God along the way. But when our Lord chooses you for a purpose, you will eventually get there. She finally came to a place of surrender and commitment, which enabled her faith to grow and to receive the promise of God. She believed God and received the strength to conceive, and the child of promise was born, through whom the whole world would be blessed!
Between Abram and Sarah, both as good as dead concerning having children, God shows us a pattern for deep faith. When our God does anything of magnitude, He always uses us in situations where only He can accomplish it and receive the glory. In any human form or understanding, this was impossible. So, the only way it could happen was for God Himself to do it through those He chose! To signify that the fulfillment of the promise was drawing nearer, He changed Abram and Sarah's names to Abraham and Sarah when Abram was 99 years old, instituting the covenant of circumcision. We have the luxury of looking back on history and realizing that the Jewish nation did indeed become like the stars in the night sky or like the grains of sand on the beach in multitude— all because imperfect people chose to believe God and take Him at His word.
Another lesson we can glean from these powerful scriptures is that almost all the individuals used by God did not live to see the fulfillment of each and every promise. Most passed on before everything was realized. We need to guard our hearts from the temptation to think that any call of God on our lives makes us special. It doesn’t. It makes us vessels chosen by God to be used for His glory, not ours. We are to be obedient and press on to do whatever He asks, leaving the results completely to Him. It sounds easy, but it isn’t. Too often, we get ourselves and our flesh involved instead of realizing that it is not our calling or purpose that matters, but the Kingdom of God’s purpose that is all-important. This is a very hard lesson to truly learn, but once you do, it is incredibly liberating. There is nothing that frees a person more than realizing that all He requires of me is my sincere availability. The results are all His. Amen!
When we truly come to the place where we are looking solely to Christ Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith, looking only to our citizenship in heaven, awaiting that heavenly city with longing, then and only then will we truly understand that His ways are not our ways. Amen.
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