Romans 4: 20-22
Yet with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God,
And being fully assured that what He had promised, He was able also to perform.
Therefore also, "It was reckoned to him as righteousness."
Hebrews 11: 17-19
By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son;
It was he to whom it was said, "In Isaac your decendants shall be called."
He considered that God is able to raise men even from the dead; from which he also received him back as a type.
Abraham is one of God's heroes in the Faith. Abraham believed God when He told him that he would have children, and that Sarah would bear him a son. When Abraham's body was "as good as dead," and Sarah had been barren and was even past the age of bearing (was menopausal).
Apparently, God renewed both Abraham's and Sarah's youth, as Sarah was so beautiful even in her "old age" that kings wanted her in their harems! And after Sarah died, he remarried and had six more sons (Genesis 25:1-2). And he also had concubines who bore him more sons (v. 6). This was when he was more than 100 years old, and he lived to be 175 years old.
But Abraham proved his faith when he offered Isaac on the altar. He would have bled him and burned him as a sacrifice, had not God's Angel prevented him. He knew that God was Life, and trusted Him to bring Isaac back to life after the sacrifice, as He had given Abraham's own body "life" to procreate.
Abraham had told the two servants that accompanied them to the Mountain that he and the boy would return to them (Genesis 22:5).
But God counted his faith as righteousness before He renewed the youthfulness of his body (15:6).
I admire Abraham for his believing God, and proving his belief by actually following through in the impossible situation God tested him with.
God's "hall of heroes" in Hebrews 11 all impress me, with the things they went through without wavering. How much would I be able to endure, should I be tested even less than these? Only in the strength of His Spirit living in me will I be able to do anything, to endure anything; and these Old Testament saints only had God with them, not in them.
But God is enough for His people. God is always enough, more than enough. So I know I can trust Him implicitly. Even when I see no out to the situation I find myself in. I know He wants only the very best for me, and if I haven't seen that yet, I know I will. I just don't know when. In His time, not mine.
O my Father, thank You for Your faithfulness and Your goodness, and Your care for me and all of us. Thank You so much for choosing us for Your own family, to fulfill all Your purposes in all Your creation. Thank You for Your Presence with us even as we suffer and as we endure and as we prosper. We are Yours, to do with as You will.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
