The Tamarisk Series

In the book of Genesis you find out about a man Abram who is invited into this crazy covenant with God where The Lord God promises to make him a father of many nations, that his offspring would be as the number of stars 1. And Abram believes Him 2. He believes Him though it go against logic, science, and understanding. And so God gives him a new name 3, Abraham which means, "father of a multitude"; and He extends the same promise to his wife, Sarai, and blesses her saying that she shall become nations and kings shall come from her, giving her a new name, calling her Sarah which means "princess" 4.

When God made His covenant with Abraham it says that "he believed The Lord" 2, but we can read and know that he doubted; how could he not? Here is this incredible promise weighing against expired potential. But on some level, Abraham and Sarah had to believe for the sake of belief and regardless of the strength of their confidence, that promise was fulfilled throught the birth of their son Isaac 5.

What Abraham does, following his son's birth, is what proves, not only that he now truly believed, but that he understood what it meant to be Abraham, a father of a multitude. He makes a treaty with the king of the land in which they were living 6, swearing an oath to live in kindness with each other. They make their covenant at Beersheba 7 and the king goes his way, but Abraham stays and plants a tree- a tamarisk tree 8.

Now a tamarisk tree grows rather slowly and must be carefully pruned in order for it to develop into a tree rather than digressing into a shrub 9. What is also interesting about this tree is that a mature tamarisk can and will produce hundreds of thousands of seeds within a few months of the year and those tiny seeds are then carried by wind and water dispersing them across the land 10. Abraham didn't plant that tree that he might reap its benefits in his lifetime, but that the multitudes, the generations, after him might enjoy its shade.

Abraham got what it meant to be a father of multitudes. Abraham understood what it means to live generationally; to live a life of investment that blesses and impacts the generations that you'll never meet. He planted a tree that would serve as a living representation of both his responsibility as Abraham and the promise made to him; that with every new tamarisk shoot that pushes up from the ground, fruit of his planting at Beersheba, he may be reminded of what The Lord is doing through him- multiplying.

I want to know what got Abraham to that point. I want to know how he went from being a father of none to thinking and living like a father of generations. I want to know what got him there. I want to know how to think generationally; to live a life of investment for my children's children's children- those generations I'll never meet.

So that's what this blog series is about, hashing out those questions and seeing if we can't unveil the secrets within the stories of those who were stewards of the tamarisk. I invite you to not only take this journey with me, but to dialogue with me as we search.