“Abraham . . was strengthened in faith.” Romans 4:20 NKJV
“The obvious evidence for doubt can distract from the ample evidence for faith.”
My thoughts today are about “ample evidence.”
Faith is dynamic not static, ever changing and extending. Faith is either strengthening or weakening. And the difference between those is up to you. Faith is a very personal matter. Someone can have faith with you, but I’m not sure how anyone can have faith for you. Others can set an example for your faith, or even encourage your faith by their words and assurances, but faith is a personal experience and expression. Here’s what I have discovered. It gets harder and harder to believe a promise when delay and circumstances conspire to make you doubt the God who made the promise.
Abraham had a grand promise from God – specific, not vague. Initially, the promise seemed life fulfilling but still naturally possible, “a father of many nations . . seed as numerous as the stars of the heavens.” Genesis 22:17-18 NKJV. I think they probably started planning the nursery and choosing names for a boy or girl. Then years passed, too many years, about twenty-five years really. Now the promise seemed completely and irrevocably impossible, no natural way to accomplish their long-held dream. That’s a lot of time and circumstance to deal with when the first promise came when he was already seventy-five years old! It was a struggle believing the promise until he determined he could fully believe God. God is timeless and eternal; the passing years mean little. He minds neither man’s clock nor calendar. What are you struggling to still believe? Does something that once still appeared possible now seem unlikely?
His and Sarah’s journey had ups and downs, good days and bad, but eventually here is how God described Abraham’s faith and faithfulness, (those two, faith and faithfulness, are inseparably related, you know). Abraham “who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken . . and not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what God has promised He was also able to perform.” Romans 4:18-22 NKJV.
A promise should not be your focus; the Promise Keeper alone is where true faith seeks to rest. See Hebrews 6:17-19 NKJV. Notice carefully the conclusion of faith: “being fully convinced that what God had promised He was able to perform.” Faith does not rest upon His promise to you; faith rests solidly upon God’s faithfulness and character. “For all the promises of God in Him are ‘Yes,’ and in Him ‘Amen,’ to the glory of God.” 2 Corinthians 1:20 NKJV.
Abraham was strengthened in faith for two reasons. (1) He did not consider the obvious evidence for doubt – “his own body and Sarah’s womb,” which presented a strong case for disbelief. See Hebrews 11:11-12 NKJV. (2) He looked at the ample evidence for faith and found that in God alone. Hebrews 11:1 NKJV. Where you are looking determines what you are seeing – things unseen and eternal or things seen but temporary. Read 2 Corinthians 4:18 NKJV.
My prayer for you today is that God’s promises are sure and steadfast in your heart.