Gen. 15-18 tells the story of God’s promise to Abraham to bless him, give him a son and make a great nation of him. You know the story, so I’ll move on to a few thoughts about believing God. Chap. 15, verse 6 gives a short but powerful statement about Abraham it says “ he believed God.”
Many of us have no problem giving mental and even intellectual assent to the promises of God. Our initial response is “ Yes, I believe” but, time and circumstance will rise up to challenge what we believe, what we are expecting to receive. They will challenge our belief in the promises of God.
Whether it’s Old Testament or New Testament, one thing remains the same. We receive God’s promises by faith. His promises are rooted in grace, the favor he has given us, the obtaining of those promises comes by faith, believing God is good, that he will not lie, knowing he will do what he has promised to do.
Rom. 4:20-22 says that Abraham did not stagger at the promise of God. Some translations use the word waver. The word waver has nothing to do with weak faith vs strong faith. Waver means to “ act as a judge, determine or make a judgement based on evidence” Abraham did not put him self in a position to judge whether or not God would come through. He did not turn into a judge that would critique, at the human level, the the possibilities and probability of God fulfilling his promise. He simply be came fully persuaded that, despite any evidence to support his position, God was going to keep the promise he had made.
The question we must ask ourselves is, do we believe God or look to the evidence that says it can’t happen? God has done his part. He has made the promise, even created the answer before we asked. The receiving and obtaining of that promise rests entirely on us.
Don’t settle for less than the complete, full realization of what God has promised. Stop looking at the evidence, believe him!