Observation: The prophet is writing to Jews in exile, hundreds of miles from their homeland. Everything probably feels wrong, with no foreseeable way to fix it. The prophet's advice is to look forward by looking back. To remember how God showed up for Abraham and Sarah, an elderly, childless couple. If God can bless them and multiply them into a nation, then God can bless this nation in exile, and bring forth blessings from a seemingly hopeless situation.
Application: I believe in stories.
I don't believe every story I hear: I don't believe Gandalf ever actually faced down a Balrog deep below the mines of Moria. I don't believe there will one day be an actual Captain Kirk who will boldly go where no one has gone before. But I believe in stories. Like Jews and Christians have for thousands of years, I believe telling stories of our past, and learning lessons from them, can heal us and renew us like few other things can.
It's not necessary to believe every story in the Bible literally happened exactly as recounted, in order to believe those stories can change us. I should say, I do take some Bible stories quite literally, even some that are quite far-fetched to a modern listener. But more important than believing every Bible story I read is believing in them: believing in God's power to form us, comfort us, challenge us and show us mercy through their telling.
A fantastic quote which I believe is original to GK Chesterton is "Fairy tales are more than true, not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us they can be defeated." If the Bible is a constant reminder to you that God has shown up for people before you, and therefore God will show up for you, then I'd say you're reading it right. Not all Christians believe every single Bible story literally. But we all believe in stories. And in telling them, we believe God is showing up yet again.
Prayer: God, thank you for stories. Thank you for showing up when we tell them, when we hear them, when we believe them, and when we believe IN them. Amen.
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