Full Trust that Comes from Faith

Scripture: For Abraham is father of us all. He is not our racial father—that’s reading the story backward. He is our faith father. We call Abraham “father” not because he got God’s attention by living like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody. Isn’t that what we’ve always read in Scripture, God saying to Abraham, “I set you up as father of many peoples”? Abraham was first named “father” and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing. When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, “You’re going to have a big family, Abraham!” Romans 4:16b-18

Observation: Paul continues his discussion of Abraham's faith, and there seems to be two major points he is making. First, he continues to highlight the definition of faith and righteousness illustrated by Abraham, that these are all about trusting the Lord no matter what. Second, he emphasizes that being a 'child' of Abraham is not really about being Jewish, but rather it is about having the same faith in the Lord that Abraham exhibited and thus taught by example. Abraham is told he will be the father of many nations, and that means ... every people group in every nation can effectively call Abraham 'father' when they have adopted the same kind of faith in Yahweh ... a faith that is now exhibited through belief in Jesus Christ as the Messiah, our Lord and savior, and the full trust that comes from that faith.

Application: More and more, I have been fascinated by Abraham. It has taken me a long time to understand what perhaps others have known and seen their entire lives. The Lord made promises to Abraham; that he would have a huge family as the 'father of many nations', which would posses land as far as the eye could see. Abraham received no land but spent his life as a nomad, and in his VERY old age fathered one son whom he almost killed anyway. Somehow, with absolutely no evidence that the Lord's promises would be fulfilled - and such evidence never existing in all of Abraham's life - Abraham steadfastly believed in the Lord.

THAT is "full trust that comes from faith". And honestly, it's a level of trust that is hard for me to get my head around. At my best, when I trust by faith in the Lord, at some point I expect a result. I expect some evidence of progress toward what I am believing for.

Abraham's faith is truly amazing. Understanding it is a gift from God.

So how will I receive this gift? Will I embrace hope and trust for things that I pray for, and in faith never let go of that trust no matter the reality of the world I see around me? Perhaps part of that is dependent upon whether or not I perceive that the Lord has promised the things I hope for. If he hasn't, I likely need to find the things he DOES promise, and hope for them.

I'll start with this. The Lord promises that he will never leave me nor forsake me. I believe that for sure.

Prayer: Lord, I would desire to see where your real promises lie in the world around me, so I can find more and more ways to believe and fully trust in the future by faith. Amen.