Yesterday we saw how Abraham had an unexpected visitor and how that visit would change his life. The problem was it did not happen immediately, in fact years would pass before the promise would be fulfilled.
Encouragement
Time is in God’s hands, not the other way round.
The Bible says that faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it. Faith is the reason we remember great people who lived in the past.
Let us examine this statement for in it lies the key to Abraham and our success.
Encouragement
- As each year went by, what went through this couples’ minds?
- What about the promises God has made us?
- Why does God not instantly respond?
- Could one answer be that sometimes God wants us just to learn to trust Him and in particular in His word?
Back to Time again, a day is like a thousand years to God and a thousand years like a day. I have stopped trying to work this one out and just accept Time is in His hands!
Abraham’s most outstanding feature was Faith. In Hebrews 11:1 we read this.
Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it.
Hebrews 11:1
Why Sure?
Remember Abraham left his country to go on a journey to an unknown land and he was promised a child when in the natural scheme of things this was impossible.
Answer: Abraham’s Faith is in:
- Someone who is real.
- Who is trustworthy.
- You have a relationship with.
God was not an imaginary friend, not a concept, but a real living person that Abraham conversed with as you would with a friend. How many of us today are Zooming; seeing people yet not being able to be physically with them but keeping distance from them (and keep doing it!).
Are they any less real? No! Of course not. I speak with Chris from Reading some hundred miles away via Zoom; distance keeping, not because of the virus, but simply because of where we both live – yet trust me, Chris is real!
God is no less real because I cannot see Him. My relationship like Abraham’s is not built on sight but on FAITH that God is real.
Secondly, Abraham found God to be trustworthy, yes twenty or more years would go by but God kept His promise. I personally have found God to be trustworthy, have you? Can you give an example of the trustworthiness of God?
The reason why Abraham was such a man of faith and knew God is real and trustworthy is because Abraham had a relationship with God.
Encouragement
God’s desire is and always will be RELATIONSHIP and through that we find God can be trusted and is real.
Abraham’s relationship with God was founded on the fact that Abraham talked to God, debated with God, sometimes disobeyed God, worshipped God and above all trusted God.
Tomorrow we see how God asks Abraham to do something that is in complete contrast to what God had promised and seemed illogical, and yet we will discover that Abraham did not question but just obeyed.
Encouragement
Could that just be the reason Hebrews 11:2 is in the Bible? Faith is the reason we remember great people who lived in the past. Abraham was a man of such faith who trusted God in the impossible situation of life and let me encourage you, you too can be like Abraham in our current situation.
Our conclusion to Abrahams’s success and ours is this; faith never quibbles at God’s demands, even though these demands sometimes go against reason. But what is faith? No greater definition of faith has ever been given than contained in the simple acrostic.
Forsaking All I Trust Him
Encouragement
- We, like Abraham, believe our God is someone who is real, trustworthy and wants a relationship.
- We too, like Abraham, face our crisis because of the verse we have just read and in particular the words “knowing that something is real”.
- Read Philippines 1:6; 1 John 5:14-15.
- Remember our faith is sure because of what we know will happen, and certain even though we do not see it yet.
Keep encouraging yourself in God for HE cares for you.