“He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;” (Romans 4:20).
This verse is talking about Abraham. God’s promise was an impossibility for mankind. Yet Abraham believed God. It took 25 years before the promise was fulfilled. All natural indications said it couldn’t and it wouldn’t be fulfilled. But Abraham didn’t give up on the promise. Abraham was over a hundred years old and Sarai over 90 when God reaffirmed the promise. (Genesis 17:17-21)
God has made promises to us about our health, our families and our future. These may seem impossible to us when we look at these in the natural. Do we have unfailing faith for the promise, no matter what things look like as Abraham did? Are we following God, no matter if it seems that the promise will never come? Do we believe God that much?
Abraham didn’t waver or doubt that the promise would be fulfilled. He knew it would be. He didn’t know when or how. When Sarai offered him her slave Hagar to birth a son, Abraham didn’t waver. Maybe this would be the way God would fulfill His promise. But the Lord let him know this was not the promise. “And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.” (Genesis 17:18-21) We’re like Abraham in this respect. We help God along and make efforts to make the promise come through our means instead of waiting on God. It results in a mess much like Abraham’s mistake has resulted in a mess in the middle east for centuries.
The Scripture tells us that Abraham was strong in faith. He just didn’t believe. He was empowered, enabled, strengthened and increased in faith. Our faith diminishes as time goes on. But Abraham’s faith increased and was made stronger. He was not only certain that God would fulfil His promise, but that God was able to do it. “And being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform.” (Romans 4:21)
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6) How much does God want us to believe? It’s not even with the faith of Abrahm. “And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.” (Luke 17:6) A mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds measuring about 2 millimeters in diameter. Yet it produces a tree. When Jesus was talking about the kingdom of God, He compared it to a mustard seed. “Then said He, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.” (Luke 13:18-19) If we have faith as small as a mustard seed, we will be able to believe for great things.
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