Face the facts.

Have you ever been in a position where you are completely dependent upon God? Just this week a friend told me how some change is impossible. So, I can come up with a least a couple of current situations where I have no hope outside of God’s intervention.

Abraham and Sarah were quite literally in the same kind of position. They were old. They had no natural hope of producing a child. Consider what Paul writes toward the end of chapter four:

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”Without weakening in his (Abraham’s) faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead-since he was about a hundred years old-and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Romans 4:18-22

Abraham’s faith was unwavering in the face of humanly impossible circumstances relative to the promise of God.

How was Abraham’s belief demonstrated? He was fully persuaded that God would honor his promise and his life demonstrated his belief. Later, after the child of promise was born, Abraham continued in his belief by following God’s instruction to take Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice. This incident gives us a picture of what is mentioned here in the fourth chapter of Romans when Paul writes that Abraham’s faith was fully realized when God sacrificed his only Son and raised Him for our justification.

Let’s apply these principles to our own lives with the following questions. What “facts” in your life today? What impossible situation is staring you in the face day after day? What does it mean to you that God keeps His promises to us? Are you fully persuaded?