Our Advent Season is all about hope, faith, and trust in the Lord, who fulfills all His promises. We usually look to the Virgin Mary and reverence her rightly for her remarkable faith and trust in God even when she was in darkness and unable to see what was to come. However, I’m going to take us back even further in our Salvation History for a glimpse at the extraordinary trust and faith of Abraham. Mary was perfect and without sin and while she is our beloved model for what faith, hope, and trust should look like – attaining what she did is quite a bit harder for sinners like us. We should always strive towards that perfection but perhaps we can find some solace in looking at someone who, like us, had his many moments of doubt and sin and yet still was blessed by God.
I recently attended Jeff Cavins’s The Bible Timeline seminar this past Saturday, December 3rd and heard a story I’d heard many times before but Cavins revealed to me a part I’d always missed and it opened my eyes in a new way to the trust of Abraham.
Most of us know the story already – God promises Abraham descendants, land, a nation, and many blessings (Gen. 12). Then as time goes on and Abraham still doesn’t have any children with his wife, he begins to complain to God. Abraham is frustrated; he’s not seeing any of those promises coming to fruition yet and it’s been a while. He doubts. He maybe even asks himself what he’s been doing all this time – maybe he was wrong to trust in God?
How many times have we been there? We are trying to do the “right thing” and follow God’s law in our hearts and in our lives but we look around us and can see nothing good happening for us at the moment. We might ask ourselves if all this effort is even worth it. We might wonder if it might just be easier to give up. We complain. We become frustrated. We lose hope.
Looking back at our story, we see that God is patient with Abraham, though, and reassures Abraham that He will be faithful to His word. Then to prove His point, he takes Abraham outside and says, “Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so, he added, will your descendants be” (Gen. 15:5).
I, like many of you, had probably always assumed it was nighttime when God brought Abraham outside to look at the sky. Why would God bring Abraham outside to count the stars if it was daytime? We paint this sublime image in our minds of Abraham under the night sky with millions of stars overhead, maybe the Milky Way, stretching on forever into the horizon in a stunning and picturesque view. We assume that God just hands Abraham the answer in this nice visual package – but there’s more to it than that! It actually WAS daytime when God took Abraham outside to look at the sky!
How do we know this? Well, just a few passages later in the same narrative in Genesis 15: 12, the author actually makes a point of writing “As the sun was about to set”. And that comes after the sky gazing part which is then followed by the Great Covenant with God where Abraham has had time to gather up all the animals and make the big sacrifice for the Covenant and I doubt that was something that went quickly. So, was it really day time when Abraham was asked to look up at the sky and count the stars – IF he could? Yes! And it actually makes the story even more beautiful because it requires additional faith and trust on the part of Abraham and he steps up to the task!
What do I mean by this? Well, if Abraham had been brought out at night time to look at the stars, his answer would have been plain and right in front of his eyes. But when you’re looking at the daytime sky you can’t see any stars (yes, I know the sun is actually a star but that’s not part of this). However, everyone knows that the stars don’t cease to exist when it’s daylight outside. The stars are still there, we just cannot see them. They are hidden from our sight until later when the sun sets. So God is asking Abraham to trust that even though he cannot see any children yet, just as he cannot see any stars just yet, that descendants will come just as the stars will eventually come and fill the night time sky again.
Isn’t that a much more beautiful response to Abraham? God gently calls Abraham back to a position of trust that isn’t based on sight but is based on faith. And if God is so gentle and faithful to the sometimes impatient and complaining Abraham – why wouldn’t He be so gentle and faithful to us when we lose our hope and trust in moments of weakness and darkness? So have hope, faith and trust in our loving Father who always provides for us! Even when you cannot see the stars yet, trust that they are coming!
About the Author
Shannon Baldridge just recently started working for the Office of Evangelization & Catechesis but has been working in ministry at the diocese for nearly 10 years. She has worked in the Youth Ministry Office, Respect Life ministry, and the Marriage & Family Life Office. Before coming to work at the diocese, she was the CRE at St. Jean Vianney Catholic School for four years. She has her Masters from Loyola U in New Orleans in Pastoral Studies with a focus area in Pastoral Care & Counseling. Her undergraduate degree from LSU is in both Psychology and Philosophy with a concentration in Religious Studies. She is also an active member of St. Thomas More Parish where she is a lector and a Confirmation catechist.