TRUST AND OBEY
Devotional for August 5, 2018 based upon Exodus 16: 2-4, 9-15

There was a song we used to sing when I was growing up entitled “Trust and Obey.” The words of the chorus went like this –
“Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey.”

The story of God’s giving His people manna is a story of learning to trust and obey. God provided each day enough manna for that day. They could not hoard or stockpile manna, for any they did not eat that day would spoil by the following day. They had to trust that the God who provided enough manna for each day every day up until today will also provide for tomorrow. They had to learn to trust.

And they also had to learn to obey. On the sixth day, Friday, they were told to gather enough manna for two days, for there would not be any manna on the seventh day, Saturday. But, as is typical of human nature, Exodus 16 tells us that there were some people who did not obey. On Friday they did not collect enough manna for two days. On Saturday, they went out looking for manna, but they found none.

Exodus 16: 21 says, “Morning by morning they gathered it, as much as each needed.” Reminds me of the words to another song –
“Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand has provided.
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.”

Do you trust God that He will take care of you and provide for you? Or do you wonder if the One who has brought you this far might let you down now? Do you trust, and do you obey?

There is no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey.

Dennis D. Nelson
President of the Board and Director of Lutheran CORE

Lutheran CORE has sent a letter to ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton asking her to take action in light of some of the keynote speakers at the recent youth gathering. Click here to read it.

“EVERYTHING ON MY FLASH DRIVE HAS BEEN ERASED”
Devotional for July 29, 2018 based upon John 6: 1-21

Those were the first words out of my mouth when I tried to find a document that I wanted to work on. About a minute before I had been unable to access the files on my flash drive. A window came up on my computer, which said, “Click here to scan and repair.” I clicked there, but instead of scanning and repairing, it erased everything on my flash drive.

Now fortunately I do have paper copies of most everything on my flash drive. I am one of those digital-later-in-life people who do not totally trust computers, so I make sure I have paper copies of almost everything. And on my computer’s hard drive I had earlier versions of most of the documents – just not the final version. But most fortunately of all, I remembered that most of the documents that I still wanted I had sent to someone else. I could retrieve them from “Sent” emails. I still had them because I had sent them. I had them because I had given them away.

The pastor of one of the churches where I attended when I was in seminary once told of his brother, who also was a pastor. His home office suffered a terrible fire. All of his books, and all of his sermon files, were destroyed. Fortunately, he had made a habit of mailing copies of his sermons to family and friends. After the tragic fire he said, “The only sermons I had left were the ones I had given away.”

The feeding of the five thousand must have made such an impression upon the disciples, because all four Gospels record it. But only John’s Gospel tells us where the five loaves and two fish came from. According to John 6: 8-9, one of the disciples, Andrew, who (as always) is called Simon Peter’s brother, said to Jesus, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?”

What if the boy had not given Jesus his lunch? Five thousand people would not have been fed, and we would never have heard of him and the story of his generous giving because of his deep faith and trust in Jesus.

We have all heard it said, “The purpose of an apple is not just to produce an apple tree. The purpose of an apple is to produce a whole orchard of apple trees.” If every apple – indeed, every apple seed – has within it the potential to produce a whole orchard of apple trees. If that kind of expansion and multiplication from one seed to a whole orchard or field is something that we can see, then why should it surprise us – why should we doubt – that Jesus is able to speed up the process of making a small amount into something great? Something small – given in faith and trust and obedience to Jesus – becomes enough. In fact, it becomes more than enough. The disciples gathered up twelve baskets full of leftovers. They had more left over at the end than what they had when they first began.

The apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians, “My God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (4: 19).

Like the boy, we may only have five loaves and two fish. Like Andrew, we may wonder, “What are they among so many?” The needs are so great, and what I have to offer is so small.

But, like the boy, we can trust Jesus. Like the boy, we can give what we have. We can give generously from what God has given to us. For God is able to supply our needs. God is able to take what we give and then bless it, multiply it, and make it do more than it ever would have done if we had held on to it for ourselves.

Like the Israelites who tried to collect more than enough manna, we will find that hoarding stinks. Like the boy who gave his lunch, we will find that what we give to Jesus, He will make it into more than enough. Like the pastor and his sermons – like myself with the documents on my flash drive, we will find that we only are really able to keep what we give away.

What do you have to give – what will you give to Jesus?

Dennis D. Nelson
President of the Board and Director of Lutheran CORE

HOW DO YOU HANDLE INTERRUPTIONS?
Devotional for July 22, 2018 based upon Mark 6: 30-34, 53-56

How do you handle interruptions? I would have to confess that during my early years in ministry I did not handle interruptions well. I had so many meetings that I was attending, so many Bible studies that I was leading, and so much programming that I was coordinating that I did not have time for interruptions. So when someone had a crisis, was facing surgery, or was approaching death, I did not realize that this was a unique opportunity to provide ministry and to bring Christ into their lives. Rather I wondered how I would now be able to also handle this situation, with everything else that I needed to handle.

It was only over time that I learned that I needed to build margin into my life. I needed margin in my financial life, so that I would be ready for unexpected expenses. I needed margin in my emotional life, so that I would be able to handle unexpected crisis. And I needed margin in my schedule, so that I would be able to respond well to the special opportunities for ministry that arise in the daily life of a pastor.

I have always been deeply moved by the way in which Jesus handled interruptions, such as in our Gospel lesson for this coming Sunday. Mark 6 tells us that the disciples had just returned from their first experience at being on mission. They were eager to tell Jesus about everything that they had seen, done, and taught. Jesus said, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” Jesus knew that they needed time away – time alone with Him – to process what they had just experienced. For Mark tells us that they were so busy, that they did not even have time to eat. I know that for me, if I am too busy to eat, I am too busy.

And so they went away by themselves in a boat to a deserted place. But the crowds saw where they were going and got there ahead of them. When Jesus and the disciples arrived at the location where they had hoped to be alone, they saw that the crowds were already there. The crowds were interrupting them and their plans. But rather than being annoyed, Jesus had compassion for them and began to teach them many things. This then also became the occasion for the feeding of the five thousand.

Here Jesus has given us a powerful example of how to view and respond to interruptions. Not as annoyances. Not as a foul up to our personal plans. But as a special opportunity to provide ministry.

How do you view and handle interruptions? May we all be like Jesus in every way, including in the way in which we view and handle interruptions.

Dennis D. Nelson
President of the Board and Director of Lutheran CORE

GO AND TELL JESUS
Devotional for July 15, 2018 based upon Mark 6: 14-29

The Gospel writer Matthew, in his account of the death of John the Baptist, adds an interesting detail that the Gospel writer Mark does not include in his account. Mark 6: 29 merely says that “when his (John the Baptist’s) disciples heard about it (John’s death), they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.” Matthew 14: 12 adds, “Then they went and told Jesus.”

There are times in our lives – when great sorrow comes or great tragedy strikes – when more than anything else we need to tell someone, and the one we most need to tell is Jesus.

One of my mother’s favorite songs asks,
“Does Jesus care when I’ve said goodbye to the dearest on earth to me.
When my sad heart aches till it nearly breaks
Is it anything to Him, does He see?”

And then comes the glad response,
“Oh yes, He cares, I know He cares.
His heart is touched by my grief.
When the days are weary, the long nights dreary,
I know my Savior cares.”

There are times in our lives when more than anything else that is what we need to know – that our Savior cares. Whatever grief I am feeling, whatever sorrow I am experiencing, whatever tragedy I am going through, I can know for sure that my Savior cares.

That was one of my mother’s favorite songs. A good friend of my parents sang it at the memorial service for each of them.

And that is what we all need to know – that our Savior cares. Like the disciples of John went and told Jesus about the death of His dear cousin and their dear leader and friend, so we all have things that we need to tell Jesus.

What is it that you need to tell Jesus today? Whatever it is, know for sure that He cares, He will listen, and He can help. He can give you the love and comfort that you need and the strength to see it through.

Dennis D. Nelson
President of the Board and Director of Lutheran CORE

IS JESUS AMAZED AT YOU?
Devotional for July 8, 2018 based upon Mark 6: 1-13

If you were to ask people about their favorite hymn, how many do you think would say, “Amazing Grace”? I have a feeling more people would say that hymn than any other hymn. We all identify with the words of John Newton – “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found; was blind but now I see.”

Many times during my years in ministry I officiated at a graveside service where the family arranged for someone to play bagpipes. They always played “Amazing Grace.”

Charles Wesley wrote a hymn about God’s amazing love, “And Can It Be That I Should Gain.” The chorus goes like this – “Amazing love, how can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?”

Yes, God’s grace and love are amazing. May we never stop being amazed by them.

But did you know that the Bible tells of times when Jesus was amazed? Our Gospel lesson for this coming Sunday is among them. In Mark 6: 5 it says that Jesus could do no deed of power in His hometown of Nazareth, except that He did lay His lands on a few sick people and cure them. And then it says in verse 6, “He was amazed at their unbelief.”

How much better is the situation in Luke 7 when Jesus was on His way to the home of a centurion, who had a slave whom he valued highly who was close to death. The centurion sent some friends to Jesus to tell Jesus that He did not need to actually come to and enter into the centurion’s house. (I have a feeling that the centurion was wanting to be sensitive to Jewish purification laws and did not want Jesus to have to defile Himself by coming into the centurion’s house.) Rather he knew that all Jesus would need to do would be to “speak the word, and let my servant be healed.” (verse 7) The centurion related to this personally by saying that just as people obeyed his orders, so he knew that whatever or whoever was causing his servant’s terminal illness would obey Jesus’ orders. Luke tells us, “When Jesus heard this He was amazed at him and said, ‘Not even in Israel have I found such faith.’” (verse 9)

May we always be amazed by God’s grace and love. May we never get so used to them that we stop being amazed by them. And may Jesus be amazed by our faith rather than by our lack of faith.

Dennis D. Nelson
President of the Board and Director of Lutheran CORE

PUT ON HOLD
Devotional for July 1, 2018 based upon Mark 5: 21-43

Picture the frantic father in our Gospel lesson for this morning. His little girl was at the point of death when he hears that there is someone who just might be able to save her life. So even though he is a man of power, prominence, and prestige – he is Jairus, leader of the synagogue – in desperation he lays aside all pride, falls at Jesus’ feet, and begs Him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she made be made well and live.” His request is specific, focused, and intense.

Will Jesus go? Of course He will go. Mark tells us, “He went with him.” But then look at what happens next. Beginning with verse 25 Mark tells us, “There was a woman who had been suffering from bleeding for twelve years. She had heard about Jesus and came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His cloak. Immediately her bleeding stopped.” There is a break in the story. An interruption happens. Jairus’ obtaining help from Jesus is put on hold.

Now just imagine how you would feel if you were Jairus. Here is a woman whose problem is far less serious than your daughter’s problem. But she is interrupting your being able to get help from the one person in the whole world who might be able to help you. Can you imagine the panic that this frantic father must have been feeling at that particular moment? Here is the Master, ministering to someone else, whose problem is far less serious than mine, and His doing so is putting me on hold.

Why does the Master sometimes seem to delay? Why isn’t He quicker to respond to my needs? Doesn’t He know that the matter is urgent? Why does He sometimes put me on hold? These are questions that go right to the heart of the nature of prayer. Why does it sometimes seem that my prayers go no higher than the ceiling?

Picture this frantic father, waiting for Jesus to minister to the woman with the flow of blood, when, according to Mark, his worst fears happen. Some friends come from the house. As soon as he sees their faces, he knows what has taken place. It is the news no parent ever wants to hear. “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?”

Up to this point Jairus had had a faint glimmer of hope. But now there seems to be no hope. His friends try to support and comfort him as best they can. But there is a limit to the help that even your best friend can give at a moment like this. Something much more is needed. Something that only Jesus can give.

Fortunately, Jesus is still there. He may have been delayed, but He is still there. Just like Jesus is still there in your times of greatest need. I have a feeling that Jesus touched him gently on the shoulder as He said, “Do not fear; only believe.” Which admittedly is asking a lot of this man.

Whenever we feel put on hold is when we need to hold on even tighter to the promises of God.

And so Jesus makes His way to Jairus’ house, accompanied by His three closest friends – Peter, James, and John. When He comes to the house, He sees family and friends gathered there. He sees hired mourners and hears a great crowd weeping and wailing loudly. “Why do you make a commotion and weep?” He asks. “The child is not dead but sleeping.”

They laugh at Him. They ridicule His diagnosis. He asks them to leave the house and then goes into the room where the little girl is lying. He takes her by the hand and says, “Little girl, get up!” Immediately she gets up and begins to walk around.

Today do you feel like you have been put on hold? Do you feel like your prayers are going no higher than the ceiling? Do you feel like Jesus must be responding to someone else because He certainly is not responding to you?

Know this. Whenever we feel put on hold is when we need to hold on even tighter to the promises of God. Whenever you feel put on hold, do not let go of Him. He will never let go of you. He loves you with a love that will not let you go.

Dennis D. Nelson
President of the Board and Director of Lutheran CORE

A FAITH FOR THE STORMS
Devotional for June 24, 2018 based upon Mark 4: 35-41

What are you afraid of? Everybody is afraid of something. A lot of people are afraid of flying in airplanes – especially smaller airplanes.

Imagine yourself in a small airplane – like one of those two-or-three-people-across, propeller type airplanes. You are being buffeted about in a terrible storm that is threatening to tear the small aircraft apart. If you do that, then you can appreciate the terror the disciples must have felt when that ferocious storm came down upon them on the Sea of Galilee.

For that sea can become unsettled by tremendous storms that suddenly come sweeping down upon the lake, which is several hundred feet below sea level. The disciples are caught in one of those storms. The wind and the waves are threatening to capsize their small boat. Only if you remember that several of the disciples were seasoned fishermen can you fully appreciate the ferociousness of this storm. A smaller, more normal storm they would have been able to take in stride. But this time the disciples are terrified. They are afraid they are going to die. So they wake up Jesus, who is fast asleep in the boat, and in total panic ask Jesus, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

Every one of us goes through storms at various times in our lives. Some of these storms are like tornadoes. They come up suddenly and unexpectedly, as did this storm on the Sea of Galilee. Other storms are like hurricanes. You can see them coming for a long time before they arrive. They are the result of a long series of circumstances.

With both kinds of storms it sometimes seems that Jesus is asleep in the boat. We want to wake Him up and ask, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” All of us go through storms. The worst part is that sometimes Jesus seems to be asleep. We ask, Where is God in the storms of my life? Why doesn’t He intervene and stop the storm? Does He care? Is He asleep?

Our Bible story for this morning gives a resounding, Yes, Jesus does care. When the storms of life are raging, Jesus does care. When you think that you cannot hold on for one minute more, Jesus does care. When the waves are threatening to capsize you, Jesus does care.

The disciples wake Jesus from His sleep. Immediately He rebukes the wind and the waves as He says, “Peace! Be still!” The winds cease, and there is a great calm. Then Jesus turns to His disciples and asks, “Why were you afraid? Do you have no faith?”

And so, you see, the main question of life is not, How many storms will I have to go through? Or, How can I avoid the storms? Rather the main questions of life are, Do I have faith for the storms? And if I do not, how can I develop a faith for the storms? For we will all encounter storms. And sometimes it will seem that God is asleep. It is especially then that we will need a faith for the storms.

Do you believe in a God who loves you? Do you believe in a God who has promised never to forsake you? Do you believe that no matter how dark the clouds may seem, behind those clouds the sun still shines? Do you believe that beyond the cross is an empty tomb? If you do, then you can weather even the severest of storms. If you do not, then today is the day for you to ask God to give you that kind of faith.

Do you have a faith for even the severest of storms? What would happen to you if you were in a tiny, tiny boat in a terrible, terrible storm? Which is the predicament that the disciples were in. And which may be the predicament that you – and/or someone whom you know and/or love – is in. At times like those we need a storm-enduring faith that we have been nurturing for years. For if our faith is real, and our faith is our own, then we, too, will be able to hear the voice of the One who can calm all storms. “Peace! Be still!”

Dennis D. Nelson
President of the Board and Director of Lutheran CORE

ELCA LEADERS DO NOT HONOR COMMITMENTS, RESPECT BOUNDARIES, OR RECOGNIZE THEIR OWN INCONSISTENCIES

LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR – JUNE 2018

Recent events in the ELCA blatantly reveal that ELCA leaders have no intent to honor the commitments that were made and the boundaries that were set as part of the decisions on human sexuality at the 2009 Churchwide Assembly.

The social statement, “Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust,” which was approved by that assembly, clearly states that there is not agreement within the ELCA and that there would be a place for a wide variety of views, including the traditional view, within the church. But many who hold to the traditional view feel that all of the actions and positions taken by the ELCA since then have favored those who agree with same sex marriage and even those who are advocating for all sorts of other sexual identities and expressions. Recent events at United Lutheran Seminary, formed by the merger of Philadelphia and Gettysburg Seminaries, show just how much disfavor there is even against someone who held a traditional view twenty years ago.

Members of the LGBTQIA+ community at United Lutheran Seminary have been complaining loudly about how hurt, wounded, traumatized, and unsafe they feel because of the choice that was made for the first president of that institution. Great effort has been expended by ELCA leaders to help them feel safe. A letter written by one ELCA bishop came across to me as groveling in front of that part of the student body. In our view recent events at the seminary should lead anyone who has ever held a traditional view on human sexuality to feel unsafe. I have read various reports on the reasons for the recent firing of the president, Dr. Theresa Latini. For me any of those reasons is problematic.

If Dr. Latini was fired because twenty years ago she held a traditional view, even though she fully embraces the LGBTQIA+ agenda today, that is problematic, because it shows that anyone who has ever held a traditional view is unacceptable and their employment is not safe.

Some of the reports say that she was fired because twenty years ago she was director of an organization that advocates for and practices reparative or conversion therapy. I have spoken with the president of the board of OnebyOne, the organization that she was director of back in the 1990’s. He emphatically stated that that organization has never been an advocate for and has never practiced reparative therapy. Instead they are an educational arm of the church, which speaks to groups about hope and healing in Jesus. So if once being director of an organization that advocates for and practices reparative therapy is the reason she was fired, that reason also is problematic, because it is based upon an untruth.

Some say that Dr. Latini was fired because she did not disclose to the interviewing committee her previous involvement with OnebyOne. If that is the reason, that also is problematic, because, as I understand it, she did disclose her previous involvement to the chairperson of the board, who felt that she did not need to further disclose her previous involvement.

So, if any of those three was the reason for her being fired, they are all problematic, and they definitely show that the person who should feel unsafe in the ELCA is not a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, but instead anyone who now holds or has ever held a traditional view on human sexuality.

The above is just one more example of how the ELCA is not honoring its commitments to provide a place of inclusion, value, safety, respect, and honor for the traditional view on human sexuality. Why would I say that the leaders of the ELCA are not respecting the boundaries that were set by the 2009 Churchwide Assembly?

One needs look no further than the list of keynote speakers for the ELCA’s National Youth Gathering, which will be held at the end of this month in Houston. One of the keynote speakers is a member of the “We Are Naked and Unashamed” movement, which arose out of the student body of the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago and rejects marriage by any definition (whether same gender or opposite gender) as normative for sexuality activity. Another keynote speaker is a leader in the DeColonize Lutheranism movement, which feels that Lutheranism needs to be delivered from white, male, and northern European dominance and oppression. A third keynote speaker is a mother and her twelve-year-old son, who wants to be a girl, who will be advocating for transgender issues.

The 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly addressed a specific and narrowly defined subset of same-sex relationships, namely those that are publicly accountable, lifelong, and monogamous (PALMS). It never addressed bisexuality or the issue of transgender persons or any of the other forms of sexual identity and expression that are a part of the LGBTQIA+ movement. And yet what do we see the ELCA doing less than nine years later? Totally catering to the LGBTQIA+ community within seminary student bodies, doing nothing to renounce the “We Are Naked and Unashamed” movement, and inviting a transgender activist to speak to 30, 000 young people at the National Youth Gathering.

Pastor Mark Erson, Chair of the Commission for LGBTQIA+ People in the ELCA’s Metro New York Synod, recently sent out an email in which he stated, “Our commission, that was formed in 2000 to implement our RIC (Reconciled in Christ) practice, was called the Commission for Gay and Lesbian People, but now there are a lot more letters that are used to identify members of this community.” They know full well that what they are pushing for is going way beyond what was approved in 2009.

Where is the honesty – where is the integrity – when ELCA leaders are endorsing, promoting, and allowing something far beyond what was agreed to and approved at the 2009 Churchwide Assembly? How can the ELCA claim to be an advocate for justice when it acts so unjustly? How could anyone who holds to a traditional view on human sexuality feel included, valued, honored, respected, and safe?

The ELCA suffers from nothing less than a massive breach of trust because of the way in which the actions of the ELCA since 2009 have been so different from what was actually approved in 2009.

If those are examples of how ELCA leaders are neither honoring commitments nor respecting boundaries, what do I mean when I say that they are not recognizing their own inconsistencies?

One ELCA synod had as part of its recent assembly a service of worship that featured Native leaders and Native music. The invitation from the synod said, “Join us as we reflect on the respect we owe the original inhabitants of the lands that make up our synod, repent of the harm done to Native populations . . . and commit ourselves to new levels of respect and regard.”

I cannot imagine their reflecting on the respect they owe to the original, orthodox leaders of the Lutheran Church. I cannot imagine their repenting of the harm they have done when they have bullied, isolated, and marginalized those with a traditional view of the authority of the Bible, Lutheran theology, human sexuality, and the mission of the church. I cannot imagine their repenting of the harm they have done to so many congregations because of the relentless LGBTQIA+ agenda. I cannot imagine their committing themselves to new levels of respect and regard for the traditional, orthodox people who planted the churches, built and paid for the buildings, and started the social service agencies within the territory of that synod. It amazes me how a synod can balance its budget by selling buildings of closed congregations – buildings that were built and paid for by people whose theology, moral values, and mission priorities they reject.

What kind of a future does a church body have that is doing things like that?

Dennis D. Nelson
President of the Board and Director of Lutheran CORE

A MODEL FATHER

Devotional for Fathers’ Day 2018 based upon Genesis 21: 8-21

I am writing the devotional for this week for a particular group of people, though everyone else is welcome to read it. I am writing to those whose fathers were not ideal fathers. They were not everything they should have been as fathers. Some of these fathers are still alive, so there still might be a chance for their children to work on that all important relationship. Some fathers are gone, so their children can no longer make that relationship better, but they can still work on making their own lives better if they can find peace in their pain and a healing of their memories.

The hard, cold fact is that many fathers are not ideal, model fathers. For example, Abraham was not an ideal, model father.

Now that may kind of surprise you because we think of Abraham as a great man of faith. As the great father of both the Hebrew nation and the Arab people. But Abraham, in his relationship with his older son Ishmael, was far from being a model father.

What great joy Abraham must have felt when he finally was able to have a son by his wife, Sarah. It was a miracle – a gift from God. Both Abraham and Sarah were in their nineties. They named their son Isaac, which means “laughter,” because, by giving them a son, God had given them their laughter back.

When Isaac was three years old, Abraham threw a big party. But in the midst of all the celebrating, Abraham’s wife, Sarah, saw something that made her very upset. She saw Isaac playing with his half-brother, Ishmael.

Now Ishmael also was Abraham’s son. But Ishmael’s mother was a slave woman by the name of Hagar. When God seemed slow to act – at least slow according to Abraham’s timetable – in fulfilling His promise to make Abraham the father of a great nation, Abraham decided that he needed to help God out, so he took matters into his own hands and had a son by the slave woman, Hagar. After the birth of Ishmael, Sarah and Hagar did not get along at all. There was deep resentment and bitterness on Sarah’s part, so at the family celebration, when she saw Ishmael playing with Isaac, she flew into a rage. She told her husband, Abraham, to get rid of that woman and her son. She did not even call them by name. She was so eaten up with jealousy that she wanted Hagar and Ishmael out of her life forever.

Abraham must have lacked either the guts or the know-how to intervene and solve the problem between the mothers of his two children. I’ve seen it happen many times. Some of the worst of tensions erupt at what should be the happiest of family gatherings. In the midst of what should have been a joyous occasion, Sarah became so upset just because she saw Ishmael playing with her young son, Isaac. There is no indication that Ishmael was in any way being mean or abusive towards his younger half-brother. It just says that they were playing together at a family celebration.

Sarah wanted action, and she wanted it now. How sad. How sad for Sarah – for allowing herself to become so consumed with jealousy and anger. How sad for Hagar – to be cast out and now not have someone to provide for her. How sad for Isaac – to no longer be able to have a relationship with his half-brother. But especially how sad for Ishmael. To have a father who rejected him, cast him out, cut him off, sent him away.

I am sure that Abraham loved Ishmael deeply. I am certain that he was greatly distressed over the thought of having to send him away. It was during this time of great confusion and pain that God spoke once again to Abraham. (Thank you, Lord, for speaking to us in our times of greatest confusion and pain.) God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of the slave woman. I will make a nation of him also, because he is your son.” And so, in what is one of the saddest scenes in the entire Bible, Abraham gives in to Sarah and sends Hagar and Ishmael away. He casts them out into the desert with only a skin filled with water and a little bit of bread. How long did Abraham think that they would be able to survive with so little food and water?

I live in the Phoenix area. Day time temperatures are now consistently over 100 degrees. Every summer we hear and read stories of people who go hiking in the desert with not enough water. They do not survive. How long did Abraham think Hagar and Ishmael were going to be able to survive?

When their scanty provisions were gone, Hagar did the best thing she could. She found some shade and left her son there. Then she sat down quite a ways away, looking in the opposite direction. She cried out to anyone who might hear her, “Do not let me look on the death of my child.” Then she sat down and wept.

God heard the cry of the child, so an angel of God called to Hagar and said, “Do not be afraid. Lift up your son and hold him fast, for I will make a great nation of him.” Then God showed her a well where she and her son could draw water. They were not going to die in the desert. God would be with them. Ishmael would grow to become “an expert with the bow.” His mother would find a wife for him. God gave great promises to a homeless woman, and God always keeps His promises. They would not be alone. Even though they had been cast out by a very non-ideal earthly father, they still had a perfect, loving, model Heavenly Father who would look out for them.

And that is good news for all of us. That no matter how well or how badly our own earthly fathers may have fulfilled the role of father, and whether or not we still have a chance to make that all important relationship better, still each one of us – like Ishmael – has a perfect, ideal, loving, model Heavenly Father.

And so, you see, the model, ideal father in our Bible story is not Abraham. In some ways Abraham was a very bad father. No, in this story, the model, ideal Father is God. And God wants to be your model, ideal Father. Earthly fathers may let us down, as Abraham let Ishmael down. But our Heavenly Father will never let us down.

And so, on this upcoming Fathers’ Day, let us give thanks for our earthly fathers, who did for us the very best they could in loving us and nurturing us, but who also had their own very real life issues, hurts, and needs to deal with.

But even more, let us give thanks that we, like Ishmael, have a loving, ideal, model Heavenly Father, who will always love us. Who will always take care of us. Even when we are in the desert times of our lives, He will never forsake us, but will always be there for us.

Dennis D. Nelson
President of the Board and Director of Lutheran CORE