Inspired by Genesis 24:63-67, Romans 7:15-20, Matthew 11:16-19, 28-30
Most of you are of an age to remember the AAA vacation guides known as “Triptiks”. These maps were invaluable information for travelers headed to unfamiliar places. AAA members would call or write off to the organization and let them know the places to which they wanted to travel. A few weeks later a package would arrive by U.S. Mail that would contain multiple maps with the route highlighted and hotel/motel recommendations as well as eateries noted. My dad was a huge fan and would plan multiple week travels across the West with mom as the intrepid navigator, dutifully following the highlighted routes. I can still remember mom’s voice ringing out to alert dad to upcoming turns – a forerunner of the GPS voice we all hear today (except with a MN accent).
It would be really nice to have a “Triptik” to help us make our way through life, wouldn’t it? I mean, there are sometimes where we could all use a little direction or some help moving forward through challenging seasons. For example, on Friday morning I reconnected with an old friend who was in need of a listening ear as she navigates the final days of her mother’s life. I was able to give her some thoughts on a path forward, and some reassurance that she was doing the best she could to find her way without a roadmap. I reassured her that God knows the way and is walking with her. Our scripture readings for today give us a look at how God has always made a way – using people and situations in unforeseen ways to achieve God’s preferred future.
Abraham wants to find a wife for his son Isaac. He sends his servant on this errand with a stipulation that Isaac’s wife cannot come from the Canaanites; the woman must come from his homeland. Off goes the servant and prays to the God of his master Abraham for guidance – and God makes a way. Rebekah comes to fetch water from the well and gives water to the thirsty traveler and his 10 camels. A deal is struck with Laban, who was kin to Abraham, for the hand of Rebekah. All that is required is that she travel with Abraham’s servant to an unknown land. What courage and trust Rebekah shows in God to make a way for her future with a man she’s never met.
In the letter to the Roman believers, we find the Apostle Paul all bolloxed up. He is making the case that when left to his own devices he allows the power of sin to direct his life. How can he find a way out of this dilemma? He asks the following question and then provides the answer to all followers of the Christ: “…Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!...” God has made a way for all of us to get out of our penchant to sin by giving us the teachings of Jesus and the powerful guiding presence of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus has dealt with the followers of his cousin John the Baptizer who questioned whether he was the Messiah or not. Jesus sends them away and then goes on to point out to the crowd their unbelief in saying that they wouldn’t follow John because they believed he had a demon causing him not to eat nor drink, and they wouldn’t follow Jesus because he did eat and drink, but with sinners. Jesus, though frustrated with their lack of belief, provides them a way forward in their faith saying, “…Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light….” God is always making a way for us, but how often we are like the crowds around Jesus – unable or unwilling to accept his “Triptik” for our lives!
All of you know the hymn, “Amazing Grace”, which is the best known and most often sung of the hundreds of hymns written by John Newton. I suspect that many of you do not know the story of John’s life prior to his Ordination in the Church of England and subsequent life dedicated to serving God. John was born in 1725 in England and for the first seven years of his life was given a strong spiritual foundation by his mother. Following her death, John’s life meandered from boarding schools to life as a sailor. He was certainly adrift in more ways than one. During a particularly powerful storm in his 23rd year, he had an epiphany that God “Came down from on high and delivered me out of deep waters”.
Soon after that experience, he left the sailing life behind and settled down. He became friends with the Rev. George Whitfield and through his influence and the encouragement of his faithful wife, John pursued seminary training. At age 39 – sixteen years after his experience of God’s salvation from the storm – John was ordained. He went on to pastor a church and to write hundreds of hymns with his next-door neighbor the poet William Cowper.
One of those hymns, “Though Troubles Assail Us” is almost unknown, but contains the following words that speak to how God made a way in his life – and what that revelation can teach us some 250 years later. Newton wrote: “Though troubles assail us and dangers affright, though friends should all fail us and foes all unite, yet one thing secures us, whatever betide, the promise assures us, ‘The Lord will provide.’ The birds, without garner or storehouse are fed; from them let us learn to trust God for our bread. His saints what is fitting shall ne’er be denied. So long as ‘tis written. ‘The Lord will provide.’ When Satan assails us to stop up our path, and courage all fails us, we triumph by faith. He cannot take from us, though oft he has tried, this heart cheering promise, ‘The Lord will provide.’”
From the first verse of the Bible to the last, we read about God making a way where there seemed to be no way. Consider what happened to Adam and Eve, to Noah, to Abraham and his children, to Jacob and the 12 Tribes of Israel and their subsequent enslavement in Egypt for 400 years. To Moses who led the people of God out of Egypt and through the wilderness, and on and on. God continues to make a way today. How has God made a way for you to be here in this community of faith? It didn’t happen by accident, after all. God led you here and planted you in this place for a reason. Therefore, let us continue together to seek out God’s guidance through whatever perceived barriers keep us from living fully into our discipleship. Let us trust, like all of our spiritual ancestors, that God is always making a way. Thanks be to God, amen!