Seeing, Not Just Looking

Scripture References: Genesis 46:26; Exodus 12:37; Mark 4:30-32

Someone said that Samuel F. B. Morse had the genius to search for corner lots while others walked the neighborhood gazing at the view. Carl Graham Fisher was another entrepreneur who saw “corner lots.” As he walked along a swampy coastline in 1912 he constantly swatted at mosquitoes. The land looked ugly and was full of pests and predators. Its only redeeming quality was a beautiful white sand beach washed from the Atlantic swells. “Look, honey,” he exclaimed to his wife, “I’m going to build a city here! A city like magic, like . . . you read and dream about but never see.” That beach site became Miami Beach, Florida, a Mecca of high-rise hotels. The dream sometimes cost its promoters fifty thousand dollars a day, without a return, but they shared Fisher’s vision and lived to see their “corner lot” built.

Jesus expects “corner lot” faith in his people. Abraham had that kind of faith. After waiting twenty-five years for Isaac’s birth and seeing him grow into a fine lad, God asked Abraham to offer the boy as a sacrifice. In response, Abraham took Isaac to Moriah. Through faith Abraham saw that the boy could be both a sacrifice to God and a man reproducing himself to maintain the messianic line. How God would accomplish it, Abraham did not know; but that God would, he had no doubt. That is “corner lot” faith!

Courtesy of Speaker’s Sourcebook of New Illustrations by Virgil Hurley © 1995 by Word, Incorporated.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.