Thayne A. Thompson, DMin | EFC-MAYM Lead Superintendent
There is a central theme regarding the life of Abraham, the father of the Israelite nation in scripture, “He believed God and it was credited to Him as righteousness.” (Galatians 3:6; Romans 4:3; James 2:23). Abraham’s willingness to believe God and trust in the promise God had made to him about becoming a great nation translated into what the Bible calls “righteousness”.
I have been thinking about Abraham recently. The first account we have of Abraham in Genesis 12 was when God called him to leave his family and homeland and go to a place He would show him. God promised to make a great nation from him and the whole world would be blessed through him.
This was the beginning of Abraham’s faith journey. From there he encountered numerous trials and challenges along the way while holding on to the promise that God would make a great nation out of Him. Have you considered lately the internal turmoil Abraham must have gone through over the years, knowing that God had promised to make him into a great nation, but also knowing that he and Sarah were unable to have children? After literally waiting decades until Sarah had far passed childbearing age, Abraham continued to hold on to the promise God had given Him. But, like many of us might do, when it seemed impossible that the promise would be realized as Abraham originally envisioned, he looked for an alternative. He took matters into his own hands and had a son through their maidservant, Hagar, thinking God needed a little help from him to fulfill what He had promised. But, no, God did the impossible and gave Sarah a son well into her 90’s. What do you think about that ladies?
But God wasn’t done, after giving Abraham the son of the promise He spoke to Abraham again and told him to take that same son and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on Mt. Moriah (interestingly enough the same spot where many believe Jesus was eventually crucified). And what did Abraham do? He once again remembered the promise God gave him early in life and the fulfillment many years later through Isaac. Without hesitation he was prepared to do what God asked him to do, believing that God would still bring about the completion of His plan. Abraham’s faith journey was literally the faith journey of a lifetime. Because he never gave up, God declared him righteous.
That’s powerful stuff. I don’t know about you, but it seems to me these days I am often in circumstances where I am challenged to live by faith and trust God. Which from what scripture says, is right where God wants me to be. Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God.” Translated that means, not only was Abraham declared righteous by faith and his willingness to tangibly trust God, but so are we as we place our faith and trust in Jesus and His sovereign plan for our lives.
There are a couple of verses that bring me comfort these days when I am struggling with the faith journey God has me on. One of them is Isaiah 26:3-4, “You, Lord, give true peace to those who depend on you because they trust you. So, trust the Lord always because He is our rock forever.” I have meditated on this passage many times in recent days. God tells us that “true peace” comes as we put our faith in action by depending upon Him. And we can only do that if we really trust Him. Peace is what we are looking for in the circumstances of life. It only comes as we trust God enough to lean and depend on him.
When given the choice my natural tendency is to depend upon my plans and solutions, but sometimes God allows me to be in circumstances where my wisdom is not enough, and I cannot fix the problem facing me. That is when His power is needed. It is during those times that journey of faith kicks in. Am I willing to trust Him enough in those circumstances that I live dependent upon Him for the fulfillment of the promise rather than constantly looking for a way out? How about you? Are there circumstances in your life or your church today bigger than you? If so, my encouragement is that you place your trust in what you know of God’s promises and depend upon Him to bring about the solution and the fulfillment of His promise. His timing may not be your timing (Abraham). But He will keep His promises.
By the way, with Easter just around the corner, that’s exactly what Jesus did as well. He trusted God and tangibly demonstrated it by His willingness to go to the cross. Philippians 2 tells us that “for the joy set before Him, he (Jesus) endured the cross”. Abraham trusted in the promise and Jesus trusted in the promise. What is the promise God has given you? Are you willing to trust Him as well?
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