I don’t know if you’ve ever read the Bible cover to cover. I’m not necessarily okay with everything in there; I don’t understand it all.
But I think that’s okay, I don’t have to get it all, I’m not God. And who wants a God they have all figured out, anyway?
Anyway.
There’s this character in there, Abraham- applauded time and time again as a man of great faith. In Romans, (v. 4:3), Paul even chooses him as his model of faith, citing “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
He’s referring way back to Genesis 15; God tells Abraham (despite his old age) to look up at the countless stars and “‘so shall your descendants be.’ And he believed the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”
Abraham took God at His word. There was no doubt, no wavering. Paul expounds upon this in Romans 4:19-21, “And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.”
But really, this isn’t even the part of the story that throws me. In Genesis 12, God tells Abraham to pack up his family, all of his belongings, his entire established, comfortable livelihood and start wandering for some unknown land.
“Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great.”
And what does Abraham do?
He says okay.
He packs up and leaves, having no idea where he is going- standing only on God’s promise (I feel like there must be a few verses omitted where Abraham’s wife throws an absolute fit and calls him crazy... maybe. I’m just guessing here).
It’s crazy to me, that radical faith.
That a man would pack up his entire life and family- he was living very comfortably, by the way- and start wandering for some unknown destination, because God made him a promise for the future, and told him to go.
Faith... what is faith?
Not to be confused with hope-
I think we do get the two a little confused, without meaning to. We’re told in Hebrews 11:1 that “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.”
Faith is current.
Hope is future.
Faith is complete confidence and trust in something or someone even if proof does not exist immediately before our eyes.
Hope is optimistic expectation for the future.
To have hope, I believe you need to stand on faith. Without a faith anchor, the optimism of hope can too easily be swayed by the forces of this world and emotions of everyday life, and a year called 2020.
As Christ followers, faith is found in a person- the person of Christ Jesus.
1 Corinthians 1:30 says “it is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.”
Because of Christ, we can stand in faith, faultless before the throne of a purely holy, almighty God in spite of our sinful humanity.
Our faith is total confidence in Jesus Christ, and that we stand in the promise of his perfect salvation.
I love these words of Oswald Chambers, “All of our fears are sinful, and we create our own fears by refusing to nourish ourselves in our faith. How can anyone who is identified with Jesus Christ suffer from doubt or fear! Our lives should be an absolute hymn of praise resulting from perfect, irrepressible, triumphant belief.”
You hear the popular saying “Faith over Fear” or “Faith>Fear”? Well, it’s true- but almost more accurately, in Faith there is absence of Fear.
So what does all of this faith and hope talk mean?
I want to circle back to Abraham, because there’s part of the story I haven’t discussed yet.
It’s really the part that’s been my stumbling block for years, but I think just now finally grasping— because faith is absence of fear.
Because Abraham’s faith was so strong, that is, he so continuously and firmly placed his faith in God, that there was zero room for doubt or fear.
In Genesis 22, God tests Abraham’s faith and asks him to offer up his only son, Isaac, as a sacrifice.
I’m not a fan of this narrative.
And deep down, have always thought to myself, had I been given this test, surely would have failed; next always question myself, does this mean that I love my child more than I love the God who created him? After all, my child is just on loan to me from God? And then feel like a failure, for not loving God enough... But you see, this is not the point— I have been missing the point, for years.
God promised Abraham his son Isaac- and that he would make Abraham a great nation, of many descendants. Abraham’s faith was so great that he could stand on it and hope in this promise for the future- he believed that either God would spare Isaac’s life (which he did), or somehow God would have to raise Isaac from the dead- somehow, God would have to fulfill the promise, that through Isaac he would make Abraham a great nation. His faith in God, in the “now,” for God to perform was just that strong- there was no room for fear. His hope lay in the future promise.
My son’s name is Isaac.
It’s a fitting name, the meaning being “laughter,” and the boy is pure joy and giggles. Never was a child named more appropriately. But in my heart of hearts, I’ve always wrestled with the Isaac story; grappled with this question of “could I pass an Abraham test?” and it’s always sort of reminded me how far my faith yet has to grow.
But until now, I don’t know that I really fully grasped the story, or what Abraham’s faith was all about.
Well, I still shouldn’t claim to fully understand; I don’t. God’s ways are so far above me; and there are I’m sure layers and layers deeper to the narrative.
But for now, I’m going to focus on the lesson of faith, and hope.
Constantly leaning into the person of Jesus Christ for our strength “now,” faith, in our everyday, and letting that anchor our sails so they can fill with hope for the future (2021, where are you... kidding. But not kidding, at all).
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
-Romans 15:13
