“The Walk of Faith” could just as easily be called “The Life of Faith.” And what better human example of it than Abraham (and Sarah, his wife). Two people who certainly were not perfect… humans aren’t. But two people who evidenced incredible trust in God! Hebrews 11:8-19 says… “By faith Abraham…” (and “By faith Sarah…”)
The first faith lesson Abraham illustrates in this passage is that faith trusts God’s guidance by obeying. “Abraham obeyed when he was called to go… and he went, not knowing where he was going… By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents.” He was willing to do that because He trusted God to fulfill His promises regarding “a Promised Land.” Are you willing to trust God’s guidance? Are you willing to trust Him to fulfill His promises?
The second lesson has to do with God promising something so incredible it caused Sarah, Abraham’s 90-year-old wife, to laugh! God told her she would have a son in old age, when she was past bearing children, as the fulfillment of God’s covenant. Hebrews 11:11 says she “received power to conceive…because she considered Him faithful who had promised.” In a very real sense, the “sex act” for them became “an act of faith!” The Bible says, Abraham “did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead… or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him (or her) waver concerning the promise of God, but they grew strong in faith and gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised!” (Romans 4:19-21) Faith embraces and acts on God’s promise even when circumstances seem impossible!
Faith also trusts the character and provision of God when we don’t understand why God is asking us to do something. Here it is… “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac … He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking he did receive him back. The entire incredible story of faith obedience is found in Genesis 22:1-14. Are you willing to trust God’s character and continue to practice faith-obedience when you don’t understand why God is asking you to do something or when you’re going through something difficult?
Here’s the way I want to live out my life… it’s expressed in Hebrews 11:13… “These all died in faith, NOT having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.” Many of God’s promises will be fulfilled in our lifetime… Praise God for that. But many of them await the distant future – even as distant as Heaven… I want to “walk by faith” every day into the future until God fulfills all his promises! Don’t you?
