Flourishing Faith

There are two voices: the word that speaks God’s promise and the word that speaks human reality.

There are two sources of data: the raw, creative power of God and the common experience of human weakness and limitation.

There are two possibilities for the future: joyful fulfillment and relentless emptiness.

There are two paths in the present: hopeful faith and humanistic disbelief.

Abraham knew these dualities.  Paul theologically interprets Abraham’s experience in Rom. 4:18-22: “In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.””

On the one hand the human data: Abraham is old, his body is “as good as dead,” his wife is barren, and years have passed since God promised a son with still no fulfillment.

On the other hand the divine promise: You will be the father of many nations, offspring like the sand on the shore and the stars in the night sky.

Which does Abraham believe?  The natural tempts us into its pessimistic unbelief beneath the veneer of “being realistic.”  The supernatural tests us to see if we believe God really can do all things (Gen. 18:14), even those beyond the scope of our present conditions.  Does the natural rule the supernatural or does the supernatural rule the natural?  Or does anything exist beyond what I see and have experienced in the physical world according to natural laws?

What impresses about the Lord is that he delivered on his word.  What impresses about Abraham is that he waited with patient faith.  He believed in God’s word above his own physical weakness.  He believed that the God who spoke the world into existence could overcome his own limitations to create again.  Abraham’s body was as good as dead, but his faith was vibrantly alive.  “No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.”

What about you?  In seasons of waiting for God to act, do you scurry about to find an adequate answer on your own, or do you let his promise sustain your hope and nurture your faith (Psalm 119:49-50)?  Do you give glory to God through longsuffering trust?  Even if your body is as good as dead or your circumstances are as dire as the grave, is your faith alive, even flourishing in the soil of silence and suffering?

As Paul interprets, Abraham’s faith revealed his righteousness, in the sense of his right standing with God.  Abraham was right with God because he had an accurate understanding of God’s character and capability and his trust followed that knowledge.  Abraham didn’t have to solve the dilemma of his childlessness, of Sarah’s barrenness; but he had to trust that God could, that God would.  And as always, God did.

May you see that God doesn’t require you to solve your life, to fix your problems, to eliminate your weaknesses or escape your limitations.  And may you come to find a healing relationship with the Lord as you trust in his power, his faithfulness, and his love, all of which know no bounds.

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