Irony or Something Spiritual?

As a members of our church, Bryan and I have been participating in the service by periodically ushering and reading the lessons. This past Sunday, it was my turn to read the lessons and Psalms. I was given about a week to become comfortable with what I was going to read during the service, and when I began to read through the verses, I was hit with a moment of irony. Let me fill you in with what I was given to read:


First Lesson: Genesis 15:1-6 God promises childless Abram that a child of his own will be his heir and that his descendants will number as many as the stars. Abram trusts God's promise and through this faith, he is considered righteous.

¹ After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward." ² But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" ³ And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir." ⁴ Then the word of the LORD came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir." ⁵ He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."⁶ Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Second Lesson: Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 Abraham and Sarah exemplify the vision of faith that people of God need in every age. Their hope and trust in God's promise allowed them to face an unknown future.

¹Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ²Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. ³By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. ⁸By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing whither he went. ⁹By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. ¹¹By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old - and Sarah herself was barren - because he considered him faithful who had promised. ¹²Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, "as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore." ¹³ All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, ¹⁴for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. ¹⁵If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.


I have been praying and praying about my questions of infertility and adoption and in the moment that I was reading these lessons aloud, what I once took as irony, became a conversation. I know sometimes God answers prayers in a whisper, but this was a direct statement. Have faith even with an unknown future, and God will provide.