Faith of our Fathers

Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear an oath.  He had said, "God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place." Exodus 13:19

Faith of our Fathers
By Rev. William Dohle

Someday...  Someday...

I am one to try to prepare my children for things.  The more they know beforehand, the better they will be.

So this winter, when I was driving my oldest down to school for basketball practice, I took time to talk and prepare him for the future.

"Someday, William, you'll be dating...and then..."
"Someday, William, you'll face temptation...and then..."
"Someday, William, you'll be living on your own...and then..."

I try to prepare him, knowing that he will face much the same things that I have faced in my life.  Without some preparation, some vision of the future, life can sometimes surprise you or challenge you in ways that you didn't expect.  My father always taught me to be ready and have a plan to get through.

But for all my preparation, my vision of the future hasn't yet extended past his life...or his kids' life...or their kids' life.  Not like Joseph's vision did!

In a strange side-note to the exodus, as the people of Israel are making their way out of Egypt, Moses we are told stops to gather the bones of Joseph.  Why?  Why would Moses need or desire the bones of his distant, deceased relative Joseph?  Because... long ago the sons of Israel promised Joseph.

Then Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die.  But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."  And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath and said, "God will surely come to your aid and then you must carry my bones up from this place." (Genesis 50:24-25)

Besides the fact how strange it is that Joseph's brothers (and we assume his nieces and nephews) would promise to do anything with Joseph's bones.  Besides the fact how strange it was that generations later Moses remembered...what strikes me as more odd in this passage is that Joseph believed!

"God will SURELY COME TO YOUR AID!"

Joseph, that inigmative character we learned about in Genesis, believed God would come and deliver his people.  Joseph believed that God will fulfill the promise he made with his ancestors, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that he would give him the promised land.  Long before his people were made slaves, Joseph trusted that God would come to their rescue.

That's some faith!  To see the deliverance of God from a distance and to welcome it!  Wow!

Do we believe that strongly?  Do we have such faith?

Do we believe that God will come to deliver us...even if we ourselves don't see it?  Do we see God's hand of mercy extending past our lifetimes, so that someday, when God does act, our descendants will remember our words and carry us with them? 

Are we that sure of God's grace?  Of God's providence?  Of God's steadfast love and faithfulness?

Joseph's faith humbles me because I, like many, find my own view of God obscured by the end of my life.  I can't imagine God doing anything past the time when I'm gone.  God's action is reduced to healing my physical ailments, keeping my life comfortable, and doing what I ask.  To be assured of God's grace, not just for me, but for my descendants and those after me, that is a faith that I aspire to have.

When I try to prepare my son, I prepare him because I've been there and experienced it.  But to prepare him for something that I have no vision of, something that I can only trust in, that's harder.

Perhaps if we allowed our faith to look beyond ourselves, to look beyond our own lifetimes, and to see the future ahead.  Perhaps we would prepare our children differently.  Perhaps we might say...

"When disappointments come in your life...you need to trust God.  God will get you through."
"When you have children, you need to love them and bring them to God.  God will help you raise them right."
"When you have grandchildren, you need to love them and bring them to God too.  God will see you through."
"And when you come to the end of your life, when you can see no future in store for you, trust that God has a plan.  For God will come to your aid."

Maybe that's a start at helping us reach in faith past beyond our petty concerns of today to the new horizon and the future that only God knows.

Give us faith, Lord, that we may hear your promises and believe them, trusting that you will do what you say you'll do, even if we can't see it.  Amen.