By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. . . . By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.
Hebrews 11:8, 11 - ESV
Here’s a new(ish) song I heard the other day that tells part of the biblical story of Abraham and Sarah. Careful, it’ll make you cry. If it doesn’t, you’re probably not regenerate. But then maybe the tune was a factor when I heard it, so just reading the words may not do you like it did me the other day when I heard it sung. The tune is one of those lonesome Irish/Celtic type tunes. The author/artist is Andrew Peterson and you can find the song at the iTunes Store, where you can hear a short sample for free and buy the song for ninety-nine cents; it’s called Canaan Bound. Here’s the words:
Sarah, take me by my arm
Tomorrow we are Canaan bound
Where westward sails the golden sun
And Hebron’s hills are amber crowned
So bid your troubled heart be still
The grass, they say, is soft and green
The trees are tall and honey-filled
So, Sarah, come and walk with me
Like the stars across the heavens flung
Like water in the desert sprung
Like the grains of sand, our many sons
Oh, Sarah, fair and barren one
Come to Canaan, come
I trembled at the voice of God
A voice of love and thunder deep
With love He means to save us all
And Love has chosen you and me
Long after we are dead and gone
A thousand years our tale be sung
How faith compelled and bore us on
How barren Sarah bore a son
So come to Canaan, come
Where westward sails the golden sun
And Hebron’s hills are amber crowned
Oh, Sarah, take me by my arm
Tomorrow we are Canaan Bound
Good stuff, huh? It made me think of our relationship to Abraham, and how we are part of that blessing of being sons and daughters of Abraham by faith, the same kind of faith that they had all those many, many years ago.
That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”
Romans 4:16-18 - ESV
