When Abram heard that his nephew Lot had been captured, he mobilized the 318 trained men who had been born into his household. Then he pursued Kedorlaomer’s army until he caught up with them at Dan. — Genesis 14:1-24

“Well, I didn’t see that coming,” I said to myself.

He was a pretty unassuming kid. He looked just like all the rest of us.

However, his reputation as a pitcher had gone through our whole Little League age group.

Nobody could hit his pitches.

I stepped up and was greeted by a pitch I didn’t even see until the catcher threw the ball back to him.

Basically, by closing my eyes and swinging at the next pitch, I somehow managed a ground rule double.

The story in Genesis 14 is a real shocker.

If it were a King David story, we wouldn’t even pause.

Trained warriors. Chasing down enemy armies. Strategically dividing up troops for a middle-of-the-night fight.

Abram? Yep.

With his relatives’ lives on the line, he went into battle. No hesitating. No fear.

The enemy armies had no idea what hit them and they ran. He kept chasing them until he recovered all that was lost.

It’s an easy mistake to make.

We fail to appreciate the fullness of a person on a regular basis.

Most tragically, this mistake is made regarding Jesus all the time.

It was a mistake made by everyone when he walked on this earth.

He looked just like all the rest of us.

Stairway to heaven

As Jacob slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway. …I (Jesus) tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth. — Genesis 28:1-22; John 1:45-51

I would like to say that every time I’m faced with the decision to take the stairs or ride the elevator, I take the stairs.

That statement, however, would be a lie.

Medical professionals who encourage a healthy lifestyle nearly universally counsel us to take the stairs.

It raises your heart rate for better cardio. It strengthens muscles. It improves balance and posture, etc.

With so much promise connected to it, why do the vast majority of us still push the buttons on the elevator?

In Genesis 28, we find Jacob on the run.

He stole his brother Esau’s blessing which elicited a death threat.

On his way to distant relatives, he has a dream—a stairway. Angels going up and down the stairway. God standing at the top. From there, God repeats the promise he first made to Abram, to Jacob – “all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. “How?”…the Son of Man, who is the stairway between heaven and earth.”

The stairway to heaven wasn’t just a place of promise for Jacob. It was a place of promise for all those who would believe in his descendent, Jesus, for the forgiveness of sins and peace with God.

Jesus didn’t come to simply provide a stairway for angels, he came to provide a stairway for any who would believe.

Most opt out of taking the stairs and miss all the eternal blessings connected to it.

Have we?

Philip made sure to point his friend Nathanael to the stairway.

Have we?

The Bible tells us Jesus is king, creator, God, judge, savior and that’s just the start!

It’s time for our caricatures of Jesus to be set aside.

Buckle up!

The real Jesus is awesome to behold.

His goal? Recover the lost.

When God is silent

“I am God, the God of your father,” the voice said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make your family into a great nation. I will go with you down to Egypt, and I will bring you back again. You will die in Egypt, but Joseph will be with you to close your eyes.” — Genesis 46:1-34

I was just as surprised as everyone else.

All my years growing up in his home and all through college when life direction decisions were made, he said nothing.

Until that moment.

On the eve of my wedding day, my father told us all how he had prayed for God to lead me into the ministry ever since I was a kid.

He had remained silent not wanting me to feel pressured by him.

He spoke only to God about it.

Now, decades later, I get to be his pastor.

Hard grief had filled Jacob’s life for years.

Life’s most difficult burden had fallen on him, the death of a child.

He had no escape from his sadness, no comfort for his aching arms.

His son was dead.

And then, he was hit with news so shocking he simply couldn’t process it: “Joseph is alive!”

When Jacob’s other sons told him Joseph was alive, it confirmed the reality of Jacob’s dream.

God knew but kept silent.

All those years he intentionally kept silent.

If I were Jacob, I’d probably be mad and say, “God, why didn’t you tell me sooner?!”

His silence is never without purpose as God never says or doesn’t say, does or doesn’t do anything without purpose.

At the very least, he’s inviting us into a dialogue with him.

However, he’s under no obligation to answer our ‘Why?’ demands.

So, now what? Hmm…I think there’s someone waiting to talk to us about that question.

Tom Wiles is senior minister of Fall Creek Christian Church in Pendleton. He can be reached at 765-778-3166.