When Words Won’t Come…..the Bible has the perfect words. The verses the Lord sent me to this week are a challenge to my heart and faith and I hope they will be the same to you.
I don’t want to stand still in my faith. I want to grow…whatever it takes…I want my faith to grow stronger and deeper. Unfortunately, for most of us, it usually takes conflict or trial for our faith to grow. In the easy spots in life, we tend to grow complacent and self-sufficient. But in those trials and difficulties, we lean hard on Jesus and His provision.
Consider Romans 4: 18 – 21 (NIV):
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.”19 Without weakening in his 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.20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.
Seven words in those 4 verses jumped out and smacked me full in the face this week.
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed.
It made no sense for Abraham to believe he would be a daddy. He was 100 years old, for crying out loud!! And Sarah….Sarah was 90. Who in the world would ever think a 90 year old chick would have a baby?
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed.
The parts that needed to work in order for Abraham and Sarah to have a baby had long since been retired from use. Flitter, Abe and Sarah might not even remember how.
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed.
It made no sense that Sarah would be having morning sickness or looking for maternity clothes, yet Abraham believed.
I don’t know about you, but I want to be an ‘against all hope’ follower of Christ. I want to so believe that my God is able to bring about the impossible or unlikely in my life that others just look at me and shake their heads. I don’t want to get to heaven and have God say to me, “You should have believed me for more.”
If God clues me in on something He wants to do in and through me, I want to believe, no matter how unlikely it is, that it will happen. Against all hope, Leah, in hope, believed.
Are you struggling to believe God in a situation in your life? May I encourage you to believe…against all hope.
MEDITATION MOMENT: Have you ever had an against-all-hope situation? How did your faith fare? What did you see God do in that situation?
