Sidelined

April 16, 2020

“Nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.”” —Romans 9:7 NKJV

“Essential workers” have been busy lately. Whether it’s First Responders, truckers, grocery store clerks and stock boys, or a host of others, people have been busy. Two weeks ago, I filled boxes for food distribution at the Salvation Army in Dunkirk. We practiced social distancing, and once the boxes were filled, I came home. Sunday, I came down with the flu. Linda insists it was more than that, but my doctor said going to the hospital to get tested would put me in greater danger than if I just stayed home and rode it out. So that’s what I did. Two weeks sitting at home while I watch others serving in various capacities. If retirement put me on a shelf, these last two weeks, I’ve been shoved to the back of it.

Thus my reflection on Isaac. Jewish and early Christian tradition consistently spoke of God as “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” but when we actually read the stories, it’s more like the God of Abraham and Jacob. Isaac is almost invisible. He repeats his father’s deception at one point, and sends his servant to get a bride for his son from the ancestral lands, but other than that, the only thing of note Isaac did was to become the father of Jacob and Esau, and to be deceived by the former.

Think of it—he lived to be 180, but the only thing of note that he accomplished was to impregnate his wife. Talk about invisible! Yet the Bible is filled with these invisible people; most of the people in the genealogies are just names—placeholders, if you will. Yet each one is there for a reason; they are people who lived ordinary lives and faithfully passed the faith along to their children and grandchildren. 

God has his own plans and ways. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9). I cannot fathom nor plumb their depths, but I trust that even when on the sidelines, God’s was are good and just. If God’s purpose for Isaac was to be little more than a placeholder, I can be content with sitting on the sidelines for awhile. At least I can pray, and for that, I am thankful.