Watering Camels and Surviving the Middle of Anything

Are you in the middle of something?

A major project?

A pregnancy?

Writing a book? Building a house? A marriage? A life?

The middle is the test.

Anyone can begin. Anyone can start something with optimism, enthusiasm, and great vision. Whatever we start, most of us begin with hope, confidence, faith, maybe some trepidation, but we start well.

We don’t all end well.

Shakespeare had quite a point. He used the old proverb, “All’s well that end’s well” and made it quite famous. I understand why, as a writer, he appreciated the quote.

Solomon shared a similar proverb in Ecclesiastes: “Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.” (Ecclesiastes 7:8 ESV)

In other words, many set out on a path but those who reach the end, ahhh, that is the true triumph.

I’ve been reading Genesis. Abraham and Sarah started out with some faith in this living God who called them to leave and follow Him. They had several misadventures along the way often characterized by a lapse in faith but they grew. They grew old, they grew up, they grew to trust the God who always sees, the God who hears, the God who provides. And He rewarded them.

After Sarah died, her son, Isaac married Rebekah. Her beginning was promising. Rebekah was not afraid of hard work as she offered to bring water to Abraham’s emissary and then proceeded to provide water for all his camels! The Bible mentions that she was beautiful and when the deal is struck for her to return with the servant to be Isaac’s bride, she agreed to leave her home, everything she knew and loved, to make the journey back immediately.

This is a promising beginning. 

Rebekah, like Sarah, was barren but Isaac prayed for her and twenty years after they were wed, she conceived twins who fought within her womb. She asked God what was happening and He explained that she carried within her two nations and that the older would serve the younger.

Like her mother-in-law with Hagar, Rebekah must have felt God needed her help to achieve what He had promised so she conspired with her favorite son, Jacob, to deceive her husband and trick him into giving Jacob the blessing due to Esau who was firstborn. When Esau discovered the deception and his loss, he was so angry that Rebekah sent Jacob far away to her brother, Laban, so he would be safe.

We don’t hear much about Rebekah’s later life. She was made miserable by Esau’s Canaanite wives (another reason for sending Jacob to Haran to find a bride just as Abraham had sent his servant) and it was a sad day when the nurse who left Haran and traveled with her died. She was buried with Isaac near Abraham and Sarah.

While her beginning was full of promise, in Rebekah’s mid-life, it appeared her faith faltered and her days had a good amount of suffering and separation due to her machinations. 

We all can find ourselves faltering in the middle.

The middle is often marked by long stretches of silence from heaven. We remember the earlier call but God doesn’t repeat it as often as we’d like to hear it–testing faith, asking us to trust and to remember His nature which is faithful, true, and always fulfilling of His promises.

We often begin in good company but people fall away and we find ourselves on a solo journey for long stretches.

We can get a little lost. Why did we even start this church? Are we sure we were supposed to take on this ministry? Did we hear Him right that we were to journey to this place? If we were right, wouldn’t it be easier? more productive? Wouldn’t we be experiencing peace and success?

Look again at Abraham and Sarah. They began by following the Living God. Their faith grew as they followed–not without setbacks–but it grew as they came to know Him and to see Him provide.

Are you in the middle? What do you know of God? What have you experienced of Him since you began? What has He revealed of who He is since your enthusiastic start?

Has your ministry lost that “new car smell?” Are you on top of your project or is sitting atop your chest making it a little hard to breathe? Are you so far from the beginning it’s hard to remember the calling but so far from the end you’re starting to gaze longingly at every off ramp?

Remember Abraham and Sarah. They journeyed imperfectly with the Living God but their faith grew and they followed Him to the end. Rebekah began well but the middle created a muddle that revealed her eyes were on one she loved, perhaps more than the Living God. Even though she was the mother of the child, Jacob, who represented that God’s purposes stand not by our doings but by faith in Him (Romans 9:10-11).

Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” (ESV)

Abraham and Sarah followed through to the promised reward and beyond. And by them, we are all blessed.

Are you in the middle? Press into Him and press on.

Thoughts? I respond to every comment and reply to every email!

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— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) March 12, 2024