Imagine being one hundred years old. The body that once ran and leaped, twisted and turned, now infertile, barren, “dead”.
“Dead” was the description God gave both Abraham and Sarah’s body. And yet, Abraham clung to a promise, the promise that “numerous would be” his descendents. (Romans 4:18)
There are times in our lives where we drum up faith; we “fan it into flames” (2 Timothy 1:6) by our own presence or purposefully presenting ourselves in atmostphere’s where faith might rise.
But, what about when all signs, all evidence points us away from the promise?
What about when our bodies become weakened, our heart starts failing, and the environment around us looks dry and barren?
Will we believe then?
I used to think faith was like a bus ticket. Someone older and wiser would hand it to me and I would put it in my pocket.
Then, at the right time, when my feet were climbing those steal stairs to meet the ticket master, I would hand another what I had…
Exchanging what I was holding in order to get where I wanted to be going.
But Abraham, unlike me, didn’t wearily hold onto faith like a disolvable piece of paper; some pass to where he wanted, a ticket that someone gave him.
Abraham knew that “faith is a gift from God”. (Ephesians 2:8-10) We cannot earn it, strive for it, bargain for it, or borrow it.
God infuses faith into us, like the strong scent from the pumpkin candle I recently bought. We inhale it, accept it and then walk forward with it intertwined into our being, because of Him.
An when we are faithless, He is still faithful. (2 Timothy 2:13)
Faith is initiated and derived from Him. It points to Him, comes from Him, and is emerged in His willingness to light the candle of His truth, near us…
His promises breathed into us.
Faith comes from hearing and hearing, by the Word of God. (2 Corin. 5:17)
God said of Abraham in Romans 4:19, “He did not weaken in faith when he considered the [utter] impotence of his own body, which was as good as dead”…or the “barrenness of Sarah’s [deadened] womb”.
When everything around us screams of doubt, when the world demands, shouts and blasts its facts…Do we hold fast to what God says, or do we look at “reality”, as if God himself is limited by time, space, or even someone’s “broken” body?
I have to admit, I often waver when my mind sees one thing, but God tells me another.
I get lost in the visible, instead of trusting the invisible.
I waver and question and press up to heaven, ever detail I demand answers for, when the road I am on doesn’t appear to be headed my way.
But Abraham?
He had faith, real faith….Not the kind that crumbles at the first sign of impossibility.
“No unbelief or distrust made him waver (doubtingly question) concerning the promise of God…” (Romans 4:20)
But get this…Abraham not only believed and kept believing the impossible…
Abraham also “grew strong and was empowered by faith as he gave praise and glory to God.” (v.20)
Abraham praised God THROUGH the questions and impossibilities. He pointed TOWARD His miracle-worker, the only one who could help him, EVEN WHEN he couldn’t quite see the mriacle happening yet.
God was the center of Abraham’s thinking, worshipping, and believing. Other people, societal norms or thinking. And even himself, was secondary to God.
Scripture goes on…
Abraham was “fully satisfied and assured that GOD WAS ABLE and MIGHTY TO KEEP HIS WORD and to do what He had promised.”
Are we fully satisfied in Him, even when our prayers aren’t answered?
Do we rest in Him, believing and standing on His character when the naysayers and boat building protestors doubt the rain will come, the river can part, walls can come down around the Jericho’s of our lives?
Nothing shook Abraham’s view of God.
Nothing made Abraham question His belief that “someday” Abraham would see himself as the Father of Nations, despite both his age and his wife being barren.
What dreams in your life have felt barren lately?
What promises have you not seen? What lie has been plaguing you, whispering, “God is not true? His Word will fail you? His character is not trust worthy?”
Have faith today, friends.
If God can grace old Abraham and barren Sarah with a son named Isaac, He can do anything for me and you.
Have we forgotten? Our God can raise the dead, resurrect empty wombs, and call forth what is not, as if it already was?
God gave many descendents to the “Father of Nations”.
I want to keep on praising? Lifting my hands rejoicing, even when prayers aren’t answers and dreams aren’t realized, yet…
I want to trust God’s goodness, despite my eyes not seeing the answers I have been believing for.
I want to keep pointing to God and giving Him the glory; fully at peace and satisfied in His goodness.
Our God keeps His Word. He never fails us.
Ezekial 4:22 says, “Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness (right standing with God)”.
Don’t feel faith? Don’t have hope that God’s promises will come to pass? Ask God to speak to you and fill you with faith.
God gives good gifts to His children. He is not sparing or stingy.
He wants to flood you with hope. He wants us to cling to the buoy of His promises, despite waters of hopelessness.
Abraham ended up having a handful of sons. But most importnatly, from Isaac, came Jacob and the twelve tribes of Israel…
Blessing upon blessing, son upon son.
God fulfilled to Abraham, every promise He had given him. And He can do the same for me and you.
So let’s give Him praise, lift up our eyes as He fulfills and brings to light every promise He has whispered to us in the dark.
Hold on to Him, friends. Never give up hope. Your righteousness will be accounted to you.
And in the end, God will get the glory for the faith He has deposited in you.
Can’t you just smell the fragrance of His goodness, calling us to the promises of His truth?
Like Abraham, let’s ask Him to fill us with faith. Because what He says is true.
And every promise He has spoken to you in secret, will be seen in the light.
