Our faith is what pleases God most. It’s our deep belief in him that he desires. A knowing within that he will do what he said he will do and his promises for me are guaranteed.
Abraham is our example of faith. Because of his faith, he was counted as righteous. Was he perfect? No. But did he believe God continually against all odds? Yes.
That’s what we are being asked to do now. Just believe God CAN. Believe God WILL. Believe every promise he’s ever made will be fulfilled and not withheld.
In Romans 6:18, Paul recounts the story of Abraham and says, “Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping.” Oh may that be said of us. May our hope stay alive even when everything around us says there’s no hope. May we cling to the promises of God and not waiver in the wait.
What was Abraham hoping for? Flip all the way back to the beginning of your Bible and read his impossible story. Genesis 15:5, “Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, ‘Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!'” Now, what you need to know is this is absolutely ridiculous. Abraham is 75 years old at this point and his wife Sarah is barren. They have no children and now they’re entirely too old to even imagine still having a baby. But when God made this promise to him, he chose to believe. He believed against all odds. He believed even though it was impossible. He believed even though it was ridiculous.
Verse 6, “And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.”
But then comes the wait. 24 more years pass and Abraham is now 99 years old. Still Sarah has a dried up womb and no child. Instead of things getting better after the promise, things got worse. There was no reason for hoping anymore, but still Abraham kept hoping.
What have you been hoping for, but as you’ve been hoping things have only been getting worse? What have you been waiting for, but you’re no closer after the wait than you were before? Will you keep hoping when there’s no reason to hope?
Sarah overheard a messenger from God tell Abraham, “I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife, Sarah, will have a son!” Sarah overheard the conversation and laughed. She said to herself, “How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my husband is also so old?”
Circumstances said it was impossible. Every reasonable thought told them it was far too late. All these years of hoping and trying with nothing ever happening.
Is there something in your life that feels the same? Something that feels impossible? Something that’s too far gone? Something that’s so broken it could never be repaired? Something you’ve given up hope on because it just never happened?
Well listen up because God has a very specific answer for that. Genesis 18:14, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”
Really, is this too hard for God? The God who created the entire Universe, the God who makes the earth to spin and the sun to rise. The God who knit you together in your mother’s womb and breathed life into you so that you may live. Is your broken thing too hard for God to fix? Is your impossible thing too hard for God to make possible? Is this really beyond hope with God?
ABSOLUTELY NOT! This is not too hard for the Lord.
If God says a 90 year old woman and a 100 year old man can have a baby, then against all odds, they can have a baby. If God says that wayward child who’s been walking the wrong path for all these years can come home and be restored to their family, then God can bring them through that door any day now. If God says that man who’s battled addiction most of his life will be set free, then those chains absolutely will fall to the grou...