Rereading Genesis 12-22 in Eugene Peterson’s Conversations, I discovered many helpful insights. I really liked this one about reading Scripture to discover what CAN happen, not just what has happened:
“Simple as it is, that birth story [the one about Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac] sends an important message to people of faith, one that needs repeating over and over again. The message is that God invades us with new life, and that life changes who we are. God isn’t a means by which we solve problems. And he isn’t a means to avoid problems. God creates new life — he is a Creator of persons, not a Solver of problems.
We read Scripture — like this story of the birth of Isaac — not so much to find out what happened but to find out what can happen. We’re curious not about the past but about ourselves. Can he do it again? we wonder. Can he bring birth out of barrenness? Can he birth love out of a loveless marriage? Can he bring a viable business out of bankruptcy? Can he bring faith out of the barren womb of our unbelief?” Eugene Peterson, Conversations: The Message Bible with Its Translator
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