Trusting While Wavering

Devotional Reflection, Tuesday, March 25, 2025

The week of the third Sunday of Lent

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s epistle reading:

17 as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’) —in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become ‘the father of many nations,’ according to what was said, ‘So numerous shall your descendants be.’

(You will find the full text of today’s Romans reading at the end of this reflection.)

Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 954)

AM Psalm 78:1-39; PM Psalm 78:40-72   

Jer. 7:21-34; Rom. 4:13-25; John 7:37-52

David's Reflections

The narratives of the life of Abraham were charter stories for Judaism.  Abraham and Sarah were the father and mother of the Hebrew people.  God had repeatedly promised to them, a childless couple, that in their old age they would become parents and that their offspring would grow into a great people who would bring salvation to the world (Genesis 12:1-3;  15;  17).  Genesis records Abraham’s and Sarah’s understandable struggles to embrace this promise;  they persisted, even though the fulfillment of the promise was delayed.  Eventually, Isaac was born to them.

For Paul, Abraham's faith becomes the model for the faith that puts us into a right relationship (justifies us) with God.  And, for Paul, anyone who believes in God as Abraham did becomes one of Abraham's children, whether Jewish or not.  Circumcision, for Paul, was not the mark of participation in God's promise of salvation through Abraham;  rather, Abraham's faith in God was the distinguishing mark.  (See Paul's shorter and earlier version of this same argument in Galatians 3.)

The phrases that struck me and spoke to my context are in verse 17:

"as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’) —in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist."

Abraham and Sarah were "dead" as far as having children was concerned (Abraham was about 100 and Sarah a bit younger).  They believed that God could bring life out of death.  There were no offspring, and certainly no great nation descended from him; but, they believed that God could create where nothing existed.  They indeed became fruitful;  Jesus of Nazareth ultimately descended from them, and in that seed of Abraham all the world has indeed been blessed as Genesis 12:3 promised.  What a creative God!

Prior to November 16, 2003, the All Souls Church, Diocese of Virginia, did not exist. God brought that community into being "out of nothing."  In the beginning we were a congregation of one—me. No sponsoring congregation provided a core group, yet people gathered there and continue to do so.  As the founding priest, like Abraham and Sarah, I at times felt anxious. in retrospect my confidence persisted that the community would unfold, but in the actual process there were anxious moments. Abraham and Sarah ultimately persisted through those wavering moments with God’s ongoing reassurance.  God's presence was constant and God’s reassuring promises repeated. Like them, we were called to trust a creative God.

It is for us to count on God's ongoing presence with us and to hear God’s reassuring voice when we waver.  The God who brings life out of death and something out of nothing works among us.  If we identify a place of deadness and emptiness within ourselves or in our relational or vocational world, this story challenges us to lean on and depend on the God who brings life out of death and brings into being things that do not now exist. In those challenging moments we can be real with God about our waverings and depend on God’s enabling us to embrace the divine faithfulness. We can bank on God’s persistent creativity.

What risk Abraham and Sarah lived toward!! Such awesome promises stretched them. Receiving God’s possibilities aways stretches us. We reveal how daunting those promises feel when we waver. But God remains unwavering in faithfulness and enables us to receive.

A prayer by E. Stanley Jones comes to mind.

"O Spirit of God, bring this wandering wavering will of mine to the bondage of Thy freedom, to the narrowness of Thy universality, to the yoke that is easy, and to the burden that is light.  I bend my neck--not easily, but I bend it--to the yoke of Thy complete will. I am glad I do.  Amen.” +

+E. Stanley Jones, Abundant Living (New York:  Cokesbury, 19  ), p. 157.

Collect of the Day, The Third Sunday in Lent

Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (BCP, 218)

Tuesday in the Third Week of Lent

O Lord, we beseech you mercifully to hear us; and grant that we, to whom you have given a fervent desire to pray, may, by your mighty aid, be defended and comforted in all dangers and adversities; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Weekday Eucharistic Propers, p. 29).

A Collect for Peace

Most holy God, the source of all good desires, all right judgments, and all just works: Give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, so that our minds may be fixed on the doing of your will, and that we, being delivered from the fear of all enemies, may live in peace and quietness; through the mercies of Christ Jesus our Savior. Amen. (BCP, 123)

For Young Persons

God our Father, you see your children growing up in an unsteady and confusing world: Show them that your ways give more life than the ways of the world, and that following you is better than chasing after selfish goals. Help them to take failure, not as a measure of their worth, but as a chance for a new start. Give them strength to hold their faith in you, and to keep alive their joy in your creation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  (BCP, 829)

A Prayer for Light

Grant us, Lord, the lamp of charity which never fails, that it may burn in us and shed its light on those around us, and that by its brightness we may have a vision of that holy City, where dwells the true and never-failing Light, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 110)

A Collect for Mission

Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified:  Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.  (BCP, 100)

Daily Office Epistle, Romans 4:13-25

13For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation. 16For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us,

17 as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’) —in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become ‘the father of many nations,’ according to what was said, ‘So numerous shall your descendants be.’ 19He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. Other ancient authorities lack already 20No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22Therefore his faith ‘was reckoned to him as righteousness.’

23 Now the words, ‘it was reckoned to him,’ were written not for his sake alone, 24but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.

Daily Prayer Offices in The Book of Common Prayer

Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer

Noonday Prayer, p. 103, Book of Common Prayer

Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p. 109, Book of Common Prayer

Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer

Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer

Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer