Tag Archives: trust

The Incredible Faith of Abraham

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man on camelWe often talk about Abraham as being the “father of the faithful,” but have we ever thought about just how faithful Abraham really was? Usually, faith is built on trust and trust is developed from prior experience. But, when we read of the initial encounter the Lord had with Abraham, it seems that there was not much of a track record between the Lord and Abraham prior to that time! In Genesis 12:1-4a, we read: “Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ So Abram went, as the LORD had told him.” (ESV)  Abraham or Abram as he was known at that time, left home in obedience to the word of a God he had only recently met and had had no prior experience with! In our day and time and in our culture, it is considered foolish and ill-advised to trust someone you don’t know or someone you just recently met! (However, we do this all the time, every time we get on an airplane and into a taxicab!) Yet! Abram believed God and left home based on the promises of a God he hardly knew and just had recently met! That was incredible faith!

But if you think that was incredible, look at the text again! Not only did Abraham leave all that he was familiar with for the unfamiliar, the Lord told him to go to a land that he would be shown! In other words, not only did Abraham leave home in obedience to a God he hardly knew and had no real experience with, he left home, not knowing where he was going! The Lord didn’t tell him a specific place to go! No! The Lord told him to leave and the Lord promised to show him where he was going as he was going! Oh my! Most of us wouldn’t dare leave home until we at least knew where we were going! But the incredible faith of Abraham is shown in the last words of the passage we selected: “So, Abram went, as the LORD had told him!” Wow!

Now, when we look at the faith of Abraham, it is incredible in its own time and context, but it is even more incredible when we compare it with the faith we should have in our day and time! Abraham had little or no prior experience with the Lord, yet Abraham believed God! We have the witness of Abraham, and many other biblical examples, in addition to the authority of Scripture, yet many of us struggle to believe God! Abraham trusted a God he hardly knew and had little experience with, yet we know the Lord through the testimony of the Bible, the testimony of the saints of old, and through our own personal experiences, yet often, we still struggle to believe God! In addition to all of that, we have the witness and the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within!

We struggle today with the simple elementary stuff when it comes to the things of God! But the Lord is looking for people of strong faith so that mighty exploits might be done through them! But, it’s hard to do big things with people who have little or no faith! We have the witness of Abraham and all the saints of old! We have the witness of those who have gone on before us in our lifetimes! We have the witness of the Bible! We have the redemption from sin, purchased by the life of Jesus! We have the indwelling witness and power of the Holy Spirit within! Abraham had none of that, yet the faith that Abraham had back then, still far exceeds the faith that many of us have today! Abraham had incredible faith! But, with the advantages of historical witnesses, biblical revelation, salvific redemption, and spiritual infusion, our faith today should be even more incredible than Abraham’s!  

Some “Other” Lessons From Job

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Job

The story of Job in the Bible is known for its teachings on faith and patience, but did you know that there are some other lessons we can learn from the story of Job? Here are just a few that I’ve learned that I want to share with you.

First of all, I think the story of Job teaches us that trouble is a trust! Note that God bragged on Job and was confident that no matter what happened, Job would remain faithful! That teaches us that not only are we to have faith in God, but God also has faith in us! Therefore, trouble is a trust! Whatever we’re confronted with, if God was not confident that we could handle it, God would have never allowed us to be confronted with it! So whatever you’re facing today, you can be confident in the fact that God would have never brought you to it if He thought you couldn’t get through it! We may waver in our faith in God, but God never waivers in His faith in us! So stop complaining about your troubles and understand that the presence of trouble in your life is a sign of the trust of God.

Another lesson we can learn from the story of Job is the fact that our lives are not really about us! Ultimately, whatever happens in our lives, God wants it to be for His glory! Your success, your prosperity, your blessings are not about you! According to Paul, God works everything together for the good of those who love the Lord and who are the called according to his purpose. The good that Paul spoke of was not our comfort, but rather that we might be conformed to the image of His dear Son (Jesus). So, ultimately, everything that happens in the life of a Christian, God uses it to shape that Christian into the image of Jesus.

We can also learn from Job that there is always more going on than what we can see or comprehend! Sometimes we don’t know the reason, but we can rest assured that there is one! It is at that point that we have to (as the old folks used to say where I come from) trust God even when we can’t trace Him! Don’t ever think you know the whole story! There will always be the “X-factors” or the unknown variables; that’s just the way life is!

There are many other lessons we can learn from the story of Job, but these are just a few that jumped out at me. There is much more to the story than just the patience of Job and we would do well to learn some of the other lessons as well.