Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Is it possible that we have never really known who we are? When we learn the answer, we discover the happiness we've always yearned for.
Everyone who at last walks through the gates into the New Jerusalem, and eats of the tree of life and drinks the water of life, will be a child of two people--of Abraham, and of Sarah his wife. In Romans he is said to be "the father of all those who believe" (4:11), and God said that his wife Sarah "shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her" (Gen. 17:16). But of course the idea is not that "all who believe" must be of literal genetic descent; it's they "who walk in the steps of the faith [of] our father Abraham, ... who is the father of us all" (Rom. 4:12, 16).
But did Abraham and Sarah always have a perfect faith? No! And here's where you come in, because you have not always had a perfect faith, either. It took both of them years and years before they learned how to truly believe. (It's not necessary that you take that long; you can be "born again" today if you will choose to believe the truth.) But Mr. and Mrs. Abraham had an experience together that all true children of God go through--passing from the darkness of unbelief into the glorious light of believing the gospel.
The one who dragged her heels the longest was Mrs. Abraham. When God promised her childless husband he would have children in number as the stars, that meant that she would be their mother. Of course! But even though she was not able to be with child, the supreme "desire of [her] heart" was to have children of her own (see Psalm 37:4). So what did she do? Blamed God for her infertility (see Gen. 16:2).
You say you would never do that? That's why you may not know who you really are. Just like those two, you were born an unbeliever who needs to learn to be reconciled to God. Bitter old Sarah finally humbled her heart and was reconciled when she believed the Good News of the gospel (see Heb. 11:11). Now, follow her steps into the light. They lead straight to the New Jerusalem.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 11, 2003.
Copyright © 2017 by "Dial Daily Bread."
