Finding Waldo

Finding Waldo--June 29, 2016

"By 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 where he was going. By 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. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God." [Hebrews 11:8-10]

They say that seeing is believing, but that is not always true.

Anybody who has witnessed that phenomenon on a hot day where you are driving along the road and the asphalt highway up ahead looks like it is melting into pools of water knows as much.  You see that mirage once, and you know every time afterward: it isn't melting, and there isn't water up ahead.  You are seeing a trick of the eyes because the heat is affecting the density of the air, which in turn affects the way it refracts light.  You might get fooled the first time you ever see that mirage, but you won't get fooled again.  You will still see the same trick of the light on hot days along the open road, but you will no longer be fooled into believing the road ahead is wet.  Seeing is not always believing.

In fact, sometimes, actually the opposite is true: sometimes you don't see something until you believe it.  A wise mentor of mine used to refer to it as "faithful imagination," a term which I always took to mean the ways the people of God envision something that isn't yet here, and then as they envision it, they can begin to be a part of it already.  Sometimes you can't see anything until you believe it is there, or that it will be there.  You trust that Waldo is somewhere in the picture because the book makes you the promise that Waldo will be found somewhere on every page. And because of that promise, you can then spot the bespectacled cartoon fellow with the red and white striped shirt and hat walking stick.  And yet you know not to go looking for Waldo in, say, the newspaper, or the pages of whatever magazine you are reading on the beach.  You will look for him in a Where's Waldo?  book, though, because the book itself promises you that he will be found there.  You believe that promise, and so you can see him.  Sometimes believing comes first... then the seeing.

That is the truth for the people of God, certainly, and it always has been.  That is how, as the book of Hebrews reminds us, Abraham lived his whole life, looking forward to a promised future he could not yet see.  But as he trusted, it came into existence--first a promised son, and then beyond that the promise of a homeland. 

There are a lot of times in this life when we cannot see yet the reality of what God has promised.  We can't see our loved ones who have gone before us in death.  We cannot see yet how our kids turn out, or how our relationships will work out.  We cannot see yet what events lay around the corner after the next bend in the road.  But that doesn't mean there is nothing out ahead of us.  It just means we may have to believe it first, in order to see it.  Waldo is there on the page; even if you do not see him yet, you can trust the promise.  And as you believe that promise that you will find the red-and-white striped walking figure, and you'll know he has been there all along, even before you could see him.

Christians believe that even faith itself is a gift--not something we earn or accomplish, but something we are given.  Even our ability to believe in God is itself a gift of God.  It is grace.  And that grace allows us then to see what has been promised to us, which we would not have spotted before.  Christians, in other words, live by the promise that Waldo is there, waiting to be found on the page in front of us... and because we believe that he is there, we will come to see him.  Or, more accurately, we believe the promise that Jesus is there in this day ahead of us, alive and leading us. And because we believe that promise, we will see him.

Where will you see Jesus today in your world?  Believe me--he is already there.  He has been there all along.

Lord Jesus, give us the faith to trust that you are here in this day, so that we will recognize you and the life you promise you are leading us into.