A few years ago, I was in a Christian recovery group to gain support as I worked to overcome an eating disorder. A guy, who was new to the Christian scene, started coming to group to deal with some issues. One night as the pastor shared a devotional that included the gospel, the man blurted out, "That's crazy!" The pastor was not thrown by the gentleman's sudden outburst. He simply said something like, "Yes, God's love is crazy." He encouraged the man to express his thoughts and reactions freely, enabling him to understand exactly where the man was in his faith. I went home that night thinking of the times I, too, had found God's word confusing and had thought, "That's crazy." The first time it happened I was a ten-year-old who asked a Sunday male school who was teaching the class the Christmas story what a virgin was. I don't remember his answer, but I do remember his red face and discomfort with my question.
Later on, I was a young mom when my husband and I were in an adult Sunday school class that was studying the Old Testament, and the circumcision of Abraham was discussed. I remember asking the teacher of that class why God would choose something like circumcision to be a sign of God's covenant to Abraham. Once again, I sensed great discomfort in the room at asking the question. And from that time the story of Abraham seemed to be a story that was shrouded in great mystery and the Bible continued to seem like a book with a bunch of disjointed stories in it.
But over the years, I have learned that context--the background and the culture--of the stories are what bring to light the continuity of the Scriptures and the rich truths contained in them. To explain what I mean, I will use Abraham's story, which when read out of context of culture and time period has some really crazy parts in it. When I was in the class as that young mom, I didn't know much about the culture Abraham and Sarah had grown up in. They came from the Ur of the Chaldees, which was a hot bed for polytheistic worship. One of the gods the region worshiped was a fertility god and acts of worship included sacrifices of children on alters. Just finding out these two things give a lot of clarity to their story.
When God introduces us to Abraham and Sarah, they are an old couple who had never been able to have children living in a society that placed a high value on fertility. It was in that state of infertility that God called them out of Ur and told them if they would relocate to a land He would provide, He would give them a child. They left Ur, believing God would provide them an heir. They didn't realize that God's plan for them included a season of waiting, which when one is already elderly did not make sense. In their waiting Abraham and Sarah had few lapses of faith, in which Sarah and Abraham began to try to figure out how to make God's promise come true. First, they thought it might be a young relative traveling with them and God said, "NO!" Then later Sarah offered Abraham her handmaiden so she could birth a child for them as was customary in those days. This complicated their lives, the lives of the child and his mother, and the generations that came after them. God visited them again and renewed His promise to Abraham and Sarah. Sarah laughed. Maybe she laughed at the absurdity of having a baby long after her menses had ceased or maybe she laughed because she had already waited so long, and nothing happened. Yet, God gave her grace and reiterated His promise as He challenged her laughter. And within the year she birthed a boy she delightfully named "Laughter" -- a reminder of both her unbelief and her joy that came through God's faithfulness.
I understood the promise of the Messiah coming through the Abrahamic covenant a long time ago. But the question on my mind was, why did the Lord wait so long to give them a child? I wrestled with the question and overtime I came to believe that the answer lied in the context--the backdrop of their story. After the fall, people had moved away from the living God and had created many gods of their own and they offered sacrifices to those idols in an effort to gain things or to quench the anger of the gods when blessings were withheld. God, in His mercy, called Abraham and Sarah out of Ur to reveal to them the truth that He and He alone is the living God, the author of all life. By delaying Sarah's childbearing to a time that she was reproductively dead He was able to reveal to her and Abraham that He alone had the power to create life. And when we understand the details of their story it doesn't seem so odd that God would choose circumcision to be a sign of His covenant with Abraham. For with circumcision, Abraham was reminded every time he and Sarah were intimate that God is not only a covenant keeping God, and He is a life-giving God,
The context, the backdrop of their story, also takes the mystery and confusion out of God telling Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. I understood early on the testing of Abraham's faith, but I struggled with the why of it. Going back to the polytheistic religions Abraham and Sarah left, I came to believe God was giving Abraham a physical spiritual lesson by asking Abraham to do something with which he was familiar as child sacrifices were offered in his homeland. But the beauty of it was how God stopped him and provided him a lamb to sacrifice, pointing to Jesus who would be the ultimate sacrifice for us all. God introduced Abraham to grace by showing Him that His wrath for sin would be dissolved through the sacrifice He himself provided. Abraham and Sarah would be able to rest joyfully in God's promises and grace, not fearfully sacrificing their child to appease angry stone gods or to gain favor to have a long-longed for child. I love how God used the known to reveal what was not known to them.
Context often answers the questions of why about the stories written in a different time and a different culture. I can't help but wonder, if we miss some of the life lessons God might be trying to teach us by ignoring the context of our own stories--stories that He is penning. I also wonder if sometimes we might misapply what God says in one situation by not understanding the context of His direction. I love that we have a relationship with a God who walks with us, bringing to life His truth and grace through life lessons, which we can test against His written word. When the stories He tells in His Word or the events of our own lives seem disjointed and confusing, we would do well to remember that context always matters.
