The Jesse Tree: Day 4

THE PROMISE

The story of Abraham is, at its heart, about looking at the impossible and trusting God anyway. It begins with a call:

Abraham was seventy-five years old when God called him. All he had was God’s word.

God’s promise came with a vision that stretched beyond Abraham’s imagination. He told Abraham,

Abraham looked, and he laughed, not mockingly, but in awe and honest doubt. How could this happen? Both he and his wife were well beyond child-bearing years and had never been able to conceive. God was inviting him to trust in what he could not yet see.

That’s what makes the stars such a perfect image for Advent hope. Each star reminds us of the promises of God, countless and unshakable. Abraham could not see the end of the story, but he believed in the one who would fulfill it, and the Lord

But there was still another promise to Abraham, through his offspring, all the families of the earth would be blessed (12:3; 22:18). And one of those offspring, represented in one of those stars, would be the one whose light would shine especially bright to guide people from foreign lands to find salvation through a child born in Bethlehem.
 
During Advent, we are invited into the same trust. We may not see the full picture. We may wonder how God’s promises will be fulfilled in our lives. But we can look to Jesus and remember that the faith of Abraham was counted as righteousness, and that same faith points to the hope we now hold. Just like the stars in the sky, God’s promises are more numerous than we can imagine, and just as certain.

Abraham teaches us that faith begins where sight ends. Advent invites us to look at the impossible and believe in God’s promise—the child who comes to bring light, salvation, and hope into the world.