My mother drove me to school the first day of first grade. She pointed out the route we took, because she wanted me to learn it, so I could ride my bike to school everyday unless it rained.

“Here’s the turn by Greg Collett’s house…You’ll go through this stop sign and onto the sidewalk on the other side of the street…Turn here, by the bird bath in this garden…Remember how Cindy’s mother flooded their driveway last winter to ice skate? That’s their house.”

The next day, I started out well but forgot to turn by the bird bath and had to back up. I didn’t notice Mama following way behind, but by the time I turned into Bear School, I heard a honk and saw her. The relief I wish I could’ve felt when I first started made my stomach flip-flop. She waved, and I ran inside.

I just looked up that bike route. The thing I didn’t know then was that every road from our neighborhood would’ve gotten me to school. Mama knew, but she wanted to teach me the most direct way. The truth was, I couldn’t really mess it up, and even if I did, she was right there to help me.

This is how life works out when God’s in charge. All of our detours still get us where we’re going, because he’s the One with the map. He’s even doing a lot of the driving.

Genesis 24

It’s time for Isaac to marry. Abraham’s servant goes to Abe’s hometown to find a wife from Abe’s own family, which was the custom then. The servant prays for success, and before he finishes, the answer is already walking out the door. Rebekah comes to draw water and says the exact words he’s just asked God for, Ge 24:10-21.

This story is astonishing in all of the details, but I won’t recount them here. (You can read it for yourself in Genesis 24). What intrigues me most about it is the ending. After finding Rebekah and getting her family’s permission as well as her agreement to marry Isaac, the storytelling slows down, the lights go soft, and the music starts. It’s one of the most romantic scenes in the Bible, Ge 24:61-67. 

Isaac was in the field meditating. He was right there to meet his bride when she arrived. I’m thinking he’d figured the soonest day possible for the servant returning, and he came back from his out-of-town errand at just the right time. Maybe he was wondering what his wife would be like. Maybe he was praying about her journey. Whatever his exact thoughts, I’m thinking he’s meditating on her as he watches, Ge 24:62-63.

God sometimes comes across as frightening in the Bible. But sometimes, he’s as sentimental as a Jane Austen novel. He’s already orchestrated all the details of this union, from the sending of the servant, to his finding Rebekah when he arrives, to her family’s approval, to Rebekah’s eagerness to return with him.

In this scene, God’s the director behind the camera who woos us with details: She’s the beautiful and unknown cousin. He’s the single man in his prime, still grieving the death of his mother. She approaches riding a camel with a caravan. He’s in a field watching for her and meditating. The sun’s even setting, for goodness sake, Ge 24:61-63.

He looks up and sees the camels. She looks up and sees Isaac. He begins walking toward them. She climbs down and asks the servant who he is. “He’s the one,” the servant tells her. She covers herself with her veil by custom, or by mystery, or maybe both. The servant tells Isaac the whole story, over supper maybe. Or while they’re standing there eyeing one another, Ge 24:63-66.

Isaac marries Rebekah, and he takes her into his mother’s tent for their first night together. And he’s comforted, the Bible says, in the death of his mother. I’m thinking he’s flat out delighted, and forgets his grief altogether. The camera respectfully goes black, Ge 24:67.

This is a moment full of feeling for both of them–of joy over God’s gift of each other, of wonder about how she was found, of fulfillment in having a companion. Surely more good things are in store for this couple.

Sometimes God’s ways are cloaked in mystery. We stumble along not sure which is the right path. Sometimes he speaks in a whisper. Sometimes he’s silent. But sometimes his way is crystal clear, and he brings out the inflatable idiot you see at car lots. Sale today! Turn here!

This story is one anybody can see God’s hand in–his selection, his guidance, his gift. It’s heartening to believe that he’s putting together all of the moments of our days just like this—whether or not we see them—so that we don’t miss the good things he’s got for us, either.

It’s even more heartening that our story, which is part of his story, isn’t thrown off when we miss the way altogether, like Abraham and Sarah. To save his skin, Abraham lied twice that Sarah was not his wife. Sarah schemed to get a child by talking Abraham into having a one-night-stand with her servant, Hagar. Abraham participated. Hagar hated Sarah.  Sarah got revenge. At ages 100 and 90, Abraham and Sarah both laughed in unbelief when God told them they’d have their own child, Ge 12:10-20; 16; 17:17; 18:1-15; 20.

For all of their bad choices, God’s plan still includes them and keeps unfolding, just as he’s designed it. He mixes our messes in with his master plan and uses all of it to bring about the saving of the world, because God cannot be thwarted. His plan for mankind is just too darn good. It can’t be undone by the bumbling of humanity.

Who can tell a story that keeps getting sabotaged, detoured with do-overs and sideswipes, and still has a happy ending for everybody who wants one? God can. He’s got the bibbity-bobbity-boo needed to bring it about.

Gotta love the Storyteller whose tale can’t be untold by anyone. 

Matthew 8:1-17

A leper…the servant of a Roman soldier…a mother-in-law…the demon-possessed…the sick. What do all these have in common? They’re all on the bottom of the barrel in their social circles. But these are just the people Jesus chooses to hang out with after his famous sermon on the mountain.

Suddenly, my mother-in-law’s hump shrivels, and the warts on my chin fall off. When Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law, he heals me, too, so to speak. She’s not unimportant to Jesus. She’s not forgotten. Sometimes I feel like this with our adult children, but Peter’s mother-in-law is up and running to rustle up a meal for Jesus, because it’s her joy to give back to the healer. Jesus sees me and heals me? Who can possibly matter more than this to me?! Mt 8:14-15

When the Pharisees complain about who Jesus hangs out with—the despised and rejected like these, plus tax collectors, hookers, and thieves—Jesus says he didn’t come for goody-goodies. He came for those who needed him: the sick, the sorrowing, the really-bad-awful, Mk 2:17.

If you know his healing, you can’t help but get up and give something back to him.  In fact, it’s a good test to see if you’ve been healed at all.  Those who aren’t, won’t have anything to give.  But those who are, keep finding ways to say thank you.

Psalm 9:13-20

David knows what it’s like to get kicked around.  He’s had it from his own family, not to mention from the king who hunts him down.  But he’s not freaking out.  He knows how God operates.  Soon he’ll be singing “hallelujahs on the corner of First and Main,” because God will save him, just like he always has, Ps 9:13-14 MSG.  

The evil that others plan comes back on them, “their feet [get] all tangled in the net they spread.”  Those who plan wickedness can expect it to recoil on them.  God’s kickback for bad guys is well documented, Ps 9:15-16 MSG.  

God watches out for the lowly, the oppressed, the marginalized, the weak. No longer will the humble be humiliated, “no longer will the poor be nameless.” He’s the God who makes sure they’re comforted and vindicated. And he knows them each by name, Ps 9:17-20 MSG.

It’s hard to feel like the odd man out or the person no one likes. I’ve felt that way lately. And whether or not what I’ve felt is actually true, only God knows. But what’s comforted me is this: God sees and knows and feels it with me. If Jesus cried real tears when his friends did, all the while knowing he was going to bring their brother Lazarus to life in the very next moment, we can bet there’s no suffering we go through that he’s not feeling with us, Jn 11:32-44.

It’s been raining this week and the days have been cloudy, but yesterday, something magical happened. I asked God to let me see his smile through my clouds, and at that exact moment, a rainbow appeared. I know God is with me, but the rainbow let me feel it. No matter what I’m going through, he’s right here with me.

Prayer

God, Thank you for Jesus, who came for the rejected and for David who was treated this way. Their words comfort me. Sometimes I fear my choices have messed up your plans, but when I read about the mess-ups that Abraham and Sarah were, and see they’re our ancestors of faith, well, I have to laugh. Do you laugh, too? I’m glad you’re the Storyteller whose good news can’t be stopped.

In Jesus’ name.

Proverbs 3:1-4

Wisdom says to take to heart what she’s taught. Her words will help you live “a long life…full and well.” You’ll earn a good reputation with God and others if you hold onto loyalty and love.

Passages in Genesis, Matthew, Psalms and Proverbs are selected for today in The Yearly Bible.