Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.
Romans 4:19
There is something combating your hope today. For Abraham it was the fact that he was one hundred years old and that Sarah was ninety and her womb was dead. The facts said that they would never have a legitimate heir, but faith said to keep trusting God. This is ludicrous thinking. Nobody reading this would dare think of walking into a rest home facility filled with senior adults and believe that new life would come from one of the residents. That simply does not happen. Abraham was too old and Sarah’s womb was barren.
Abraham was well aware of the complications. In fact, he contemplated his age and the deadness of Sarah’s womb often. He didn’t put his head in the sand and pretend that he was still a young buck and she was still the fair maiden from back in their younger days. Abraham could look in the mirror and contemplate the wrinkles, the loss of vigor and strength, even the loss of desire for his wife while also looking at Sarah and watching her prime child-bearing years come and go with no children. Surely Abraham heard Sarah’s cries at night when she thought he was sleeping and he saw the jealousy that was stirred in her when her servant gave birth to Abraham’s son and she could not compete. Abraham spent many hours contemplating his situation, just like we do.
Abraham did it differently, though; he did so without becoming weak in the faith. No matter what he saw, what he felt as he got up day after day, he did not lose hope and his faith did not become feeble. That is amazing. How did he cling to hope, keep believing, and not grow weak? Hear this, He believed what God had said to Him and promised.
Yesterday you were challenged to keep hoping regardless of the state of your circumstances. Today the challenge is that we contemplate our circumstances but do not become feeble in our faith. In fact, we need to do the opposite. We need to be strengthened in our faith to keep believing with more conviction than we ever have. What has God promised? What do the eyes of your faith see? You might not be able to ignore the facts but you can trump the facts with faith. In this moment God is longing to speak to your heart. He wants to shore up sagging faith. He wants to help us keep going and not falter now. God is not the author of weak faith but He is willing to make provision even now to bolster our belief that He will come through.
Maybe over the past several days this has begun to sound like a broken record. You might be tired of hearing this same message packaged in different ways. Maybe you are tired of trusting and hoping. Maybe you are just about to forget this whole challenge. You have done well. You have nearly completed all of it and for the most part you did so in faith. Today something has changed, though. You are tired. Your obstacles are bigger than ever, and you have lost your confidence. That is exactly why what Abraham did, or what I should say, what God did in Abraham is all the more amazing. He remained strong in his faith for about two and a half decades.
God can do that in you and me if we are courageous enough to linger with Him today and the days that follow. If we are willing to listen to Him and seek Him today, He can and longs to help our faith become strong, mighty, and consistent. Once again we are at a crossroads and what we do next is critical.
Steps to Trust and Obey:
1. What is the condition of your faith today? What do you need God to do in order to strengthen your trust? Are you willing to linger with Him today to allow Him to minister to you?
2. If you are suffering from weak faith, where did you lose it? What happened to caused you to lose confidence in Christ to keep His word to you?
3. Are you willing to forget your obstacles and by God’s help believe Him one more time?
4. Do you sense Him speaking to you today? What is He saying and what is He asking of you?
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