I read this sermon by Fredrick W. Roberson preached in 1850. It is an amazing sermon, dealing with the disappointments of life and our illusions about life. This is kind of long and I have shortened it.
By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing where he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Hebrews 11:8-19
God promised Canaan to Abraham, and yet Abraham never inherited Canaan. To the last he was a wanderer there; he had no possession of his own in its territory. If he wanted even a tomb to bury his dead, he could only obtain it by purchase. This difficulty is expressly admitted in the text, "In the land of promise he sojourned as in a strange country." He lived in tents, not permanent habitations. He had no home there.
This is stated in terms more explicit in Acts 7:5, "And He gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on; yet he promised he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child."
Now the surprising point is that Abraham, deceived, as you might almost say, did not complain of it as a deception; he was even grateful for the non-fulfillment of the promise. he does not seem to have expected its fulfillment; he did not look for Canaan but for a "city which had foundations." His faith appears to have consisted in disbelieving the letter, almost as much as in believing in the spirit of the promise.
And here lies a principle, which rightly expounded, can help us to interpret this life of ours. God's promises never are fulfilled in the sense in which they seem to have been given. Life is a deception; its anticipations, which are God's promises to the imagination, are never realized. They who know life best and have trusted God most to fill it with blessings are the first to say that life is a series of disappointments. And in the spirit of this text we have to say that it is a wise and merciful arrangement which ordains it thus.
The wise and holy do not expect to find it otherwise - would not wish it otherwise. Their wisdom consists in disbelieving its promises. To develop this idea would be a glorious task; for to justify God's ways to man, to expound the mysteriousness of our present being, to interpret God, - is not this the very essence of being a minister?....
Let it be clearly understood the promise was never fulfilled. Abraham had a few feet of earth - beyond that nothing. He died a stranger and pilgrim in the land. In years ahead, there was a period in the history of Israel the promise may seem to have been fulfilled. It was during the last years of David and the early years of Solomon, but we know that even then the promise was not fulfilled...
And such is life's disappointment. Its promise is, "You shall have a Canaan." This turns out to be a baseless airy dream. Nothing we can call our own. Not the land of rest by any means.
Our senses deceive us; we begin life with delusion. Our senses deceive us with respect to distance, shape and color. That which afar off seems oval and turns out to be circular. That which appears as a speck on the horizon, upon nearer approach becomes a vast body. To the ancients, the stars resembled lamps hung in space; the beautiful berry is poisonous, that which seems to move - the sun - is still and that which seems to stand still - the earth - is moving.
Our natural anticipations deceive us; I say natural, not extravagant expectations. Every human life is a fresh one, bright with hopes that will never be realized. There may be differences of character in these hopes; finer spirits may look on life as the arena of successful deeds, the more selfish as a place of personal enjoyment.
With man the turning point of life may be a profession - with marriage and children. With woman, it is the marriage. This gilds the future with thoughts of triumph and affections. But in every case, life is not what any of them expects, but something else. Where is the land flowing with milk and honey? Life is an unenjoyable Canaan, with nothing real or substantial in it.
Our expectations of Bible revelation deceive us. The Jews expected a conqueror King. The early Christians expected the Second Coming to be soon.
There are two ways of considering this aspect of life. One is the way of sentiment; the other is the way of faith. The sentimental way is trite. "Life is a bubble, a dream, a delusion, a phantasm." The way of faith is to confess with the ancient saints we are strangers and pilgrims here. They said they had no continuing city; but they did not mourn over this, they said it cheerfully and rejoiced that it was so. They felt that all was right; they knew the promise itself had a deeper meaning; they looked for a city with foundations.
What is the meaning of this delusiveness? It serves to lure us on. If the Hebrew slaves had been only told a spiritual promise, would they have left Egypt? No. We are led through life as we are allured on a journey. Could a man see the entire route before him - he could scarcely find energy to begin his task. But the uncertainty of what may be seen beyond the next turn keeps expectation alive.
In fact, life is an education. As a parent teaches a child how to live, so God leads us on through life's unsatisfying and false reward; ever educating. Canaan first, then the hope of a Redeemer, then the hope of heaven.
It says that all died in faith, not having received the promises. All were hoping up to the very last and all died in faith, not in realization. For thus is the human heart. It never will believe that is world is unreal. God has mercifully so arranged it, that the idea of delusion is incredible to a person. You may tell your child that life is a disappointment - but he will never believe it.
Now see the beautiful result which comes from this indestructible power of believing in spite of failure. The early Christians believed Jesus was returning soon. They said, "The time is short." Now suppose instead of this they had seen all the long dreary pages of Church history unrolled...
It is thus God has led on His world. He has conducted it as a father walks with a child on a path that lies for many dreary hours. He allows the child to play, to pluck a flower now and then, to chase a butterfly. The child is not as wearied with the journey.
Life is not deception; it is illusion. God does not deceive. He does not paint a piece of wood to look like marble - that is deception. But he paints a picture in which nature looks beautiful. Like a child believing he can catch a rainbow. The rainbow is beautiful, but the child's belief has been a delusion.
The kingdom of God was forming in the old saints souls; forever disappointing them by the unreal, and teaching them that only that which is spiritual and belongs to mind and character alone can be eternal.
As a soldier learns discipline, honesty and self-denial so we learn these things from God during life. The soldier has nothing material to show for his toil, but he has learned far more important things. "Godliness is profitable for all things; having the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come."
Godliness is profitable, but its profit consists in finding that all is loss. God's promises are true, though illusive, far truer than we at first take them to be. We work for a mean, low, sensual happiness, all the while He is leading us on to a spiritual blessedness - unfathomably deep. This is the life of faith. We live by faith, not by sight. We do not preach that all is disappointment, but we preach that nothing here is disappointment if rightly understood.
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