God promised; enough said

According to Hebrews 11:11, “It was by faith that Sarah, who couldn’t bear children, was able to conceive a child, and way beyond her child-bearing age too. Because, like her husband, she believed that God had promised; enough said.” So from two old folks, both incapable of having children, “were born so many descendants they were like the stars in multitude, and beyond count like sand on a seashore” (12). 

That’s the short version of what happened. In the longer version in Genesis 18, however, Sarah’s faith wasn’t quite that brilliant or instant when she first overheard the news she was going to have a son. She reacted as any woman at the ripe old age of ninety would likely react to hearing that she and her “worn out” centenarian husband could have a child of their own. She “laughed to herself” at the very thought of it (12).

She wasn’t alone either, because her husband had reacted in exactly the same way (17:17). So when reading about faith in Hebrews 11, we get the rosy short version of these giants of faith who – apparently – always stood firm against all odds, who never doubted for a second in God’s promises or directions, who kept their emotions and reactions totally under control, no matter what pressures they were under from the world around them. But the longer version back in Genesis isn’t so rosy. 

In Genesis 12:1, for instance, God told Abram to “leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” But against God’s orders, Abram took “his people and members of his family” with him, including Lot his nephew (5), who turned out to be nothing but a problem. And rather than trust God to provide him with “offspring” as promised (15:4-5), Abram conceived a child with his wife’s maidservant instead (16:1-4). And he lied about Sarai being his sister to protect his own skin too, rather than trust God to protect them. 

And yet in Romans 4:19-21, in response to God telling him that he and Sarai were going to have a child in their long gone child-bearing age, Abram’s response was, “God promised, enough said.” So what changed in Abram’s life that enabled him to trust God with a totally impossible sounding promise? According to verse 20, “God strengthened his faith” so that Abram was “fully persuaded God had the power to do what he’d promised” (21). 

In other words, through testing God had grown Abram’s faith. Because what God was bringing all these people in Hebrews 11 to, was “Living by faith”….(next blog)