The Voice of the Lord

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It is those who live by trusting and being faithful who are really children of Avraham (Galatians 3:7).

It is not enough that in Adam we are created in the image of God. It is not enough that in Noach (Noah) we all have the same father. In Avraham (Abraham), the father of many nations, we receive an everlasting heritage of faith.

Avraham waited more than two decades for an heir to God's promises. The child (Isaac) came by faith to an old man with a barren wife. Through faith, one must wait in patience for great things to grow up!

The Talmud tells the story of Choni, a miracle worker in the Second Temple period. Choni watched an old man planting a carob tree and said, "Why bother to plant a carob tree that takes seventy years to bear fruit?" The old man responded, "My grandchildren will be here. Just as there were carob trees when I came into this world, so there will be carob trees for them."

Choni couldn't understand. Then he fell asleep and actually saw the old man's grandchildren taking great delight in sucking the sweet juices from the pulp of a great carob tree. "How wise was that old man," he thought. Choni awoke and realized that his seventy-year sleep was a gift from heaven. Now he had eyes to see with clarity the old man's faith.

...take steps of faith to plant a tree in another's life.

JEF