Faith.In.Life

Making Room For Three

The Lord appeared again to Abraham near the oak grove belonging to Mamre. One day Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest part of the day. 2 He looked up and noticed three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran to meet them and welcomed them, bowing low to the ground. 

3 “My lord,” he said, “if it pleases you, stop here for a while. 4 Rest in the shade of this tree while water is brought to wash your feet. 5 And since you’ve honored your servant with this visit, let me prepare some food to refresh you before you continue on your journey.” 

While the Lord has visited Abraham a few times now, in Genesis 18 the way the Lord appears to Abraham is unique.  That is, YHWH reveals himself to Abraham, and later when God reveals himself to Moses and the Hebrews God says in Deuteronomy 6:4;

Listen, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord…

YHWH is singular in its function, and from what is known as the “unspoken name” we see alternate names like Jehovah, which actually is YHWH spoken in language and is still a singular name for the Lord.  However, the first name in Scripture that is used to describe the Lord in the Bible found in Genesis 1:1 is Elohim, which actually functions as plural noun or name.  Now, here in Genesis 18 the Lord appeared to Abraham and when he looks up Abraham does not just see one, but three men standing nearby.  Abraham, though, does not pause as if to suggest that the Lord appearing in the form of three men is at all strange.  We are told that as soon as he saw them, he ran to meet them and welcomed them, even bowing as if he was greeting royalty.  He then shows the Three incredible generosity in hosting them with his very best, offering water to wash their feet and not just any food to refresh their bodies, but to offer fresh baked bread and even a “tender calf” which we know both were reserved for the very best occasions.  In other words, Abraham and Sarah spare no expense to host the Lord.   

What follows next is an incredibly tender interaction where the visitors inquire “Where is Sarah, your wive,” and the Lord finally gives them a timeline. While Sarah finds their promise of a son laughable - for by now we have seen Abraham and Sarah try another route of their own making, and of course we saw how poorly that worked for them.  At this point Sarah puts it well in laughing at even the concept of what we now call a geriatric pregnancy for she is well past 35 (probably around 98 or so to be exact), she laughs and exclaims “How can a wore out woman like me possibly get pregnant???”

To which the Visiting Lord says:  “Why did Sarah laugh?  Why did she say that?  Is anything too hard for the Lord?  

I think it would be easy to think that if the Lord were to visit any of us much like He did Abraham and Sarah we might think to ourselves that we would believe whatever he says.  And yet, over and over again, the Lord has said that he is going to do something, even to think that Jesus himself said he would rise again on the third day - and over and over again, we as his people, even Jesus’ own disciples do not fully believe what the Lord promises.  We as finite and fickle human beings look at our situations that we are up against, and even if we hope that the Lord will work in the midst of whatever mountain that stands in front of it - even if the Lord says “Ask for me to move this mountain, and it will be moved,” our doubt creeps and where not even Satan needs to beg the temptation of did God really say that?  

It begs a greater question of who we think God is, what He is able to do, and if in fact he was revealed through the Three - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  We might even sing that there is power in the name of Jesus, but when we look an impossibility directly in the eye fear very quickly seeps in, and we have a tendency of being locked within our own imaginations of what is possible.   We, much like Sarah, might even hear a word from the Lord, even having heard that Jesus did in fact rise from the dead, and we much like Thomas or Sarah will laugh and say to the Lord something akin to “You have no idea what you are talking about.”

To which, we might even echo what Thomas says when he finally realizes that Jesus did in fact rise from the dead as he saw the scars on Jesus’ hands and feet and proclaims “Lord I believe, but help my unbelief.”  

Because, here is the thing, the Bible has been handed down to us from the very writers who encountered the Lord, and through people like Abraham who first met the One as Three giving Creedence to the very idea of the Trinity - and we will laugh, and say well can we really believe what the Bible says about such things?  And if we were to face an impossible situation, I imagine we think that even if we were to pray that God would move a mountain, that when it comes right down to it, we believe the mountain is far bigger and stronger than the Lord.  If we were honest, we too join with Sarah and laugh - because if we didn’t laugh at the face of impossible odds, we would surely cry at the mere reality that nothing will ever come of this.

Most of our lives are comprised of the mundane.  We are far more realistic about our situations, and ultimately our faith is of no consequence what so ever.  I mean in our day and age parents might give up on the idea of possible pregnancy even if the Dr. Might say it is impossible - let alone our own uneducated assumptions of what is possible - but it would seem that what is real invades our lives and we look at any foothill as an immovable force.

We believe that through the blood of Jesus we have full access to not just the Lord, but we might at any point during our day entertain the Trinity.  As we do so, the Lord continues to say to us today “Is anything to hard for the Lord?  Am I not mighty to save?  And if I were to say to this mountain to move, well, then move it still shall.”  There are some of that need to hear today that if you are facing an impossible situation, don’t laugh at any notion of what we might perceive as impossible, and therefore write it off entirely.  Rather, may we look to the Lord to move - for “is anything too hard for the Lord” and then to sit back and watch just how creatively God is going to work in your life.