Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?"...Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. -Genesis 17:17, 19
Consider for a moment some of the strange phrases we use in the English language. For example, we might say something like this; “That dog is pretty ugly.” How would you explain to someone learning English how the words pretty and ugly describe the same thing? Yet, most of us would know exactly what this means. The reason being that a native English speaker has grown up speaking English and we understand these strange nuances in our language. The other day I made the statement that I was "toying with the idea" of doing something. Now, what did I mean by that? I meant that I was seriously thinking about it. But saying that I was toying with it somehow takes away from the seriousness of it, doesn't it? But you know what I meant.
Sometimes we find ourselves doing the same thing with the promises of God. We think about them, and we toy with the idea of believing that God will keep His word. The promises of God are something we ought never to toy with, but instead we are to believe God without question. This is where the challenges of life and the trials we face can become extremely difficult. We want to believe God, but often the circumstances surrounding the promise cause us not to. And what do we do? We toy with the idea of believing God.
Abraham and Sarah wanted to believe God when He told them that they would have a child, but consider the circumstances: Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90. When God told Abraham that Sarah would have a child Abraham fell down and laughed (Genesis 17:17). Now, we can’t think about what he did without considering Sarah also. When she overheard the angel tell Abraham this news she too laughed (Genesis 18:12). They both wanted to believe what God was telling them, but the circumstances made this a tremendous challenge. Whatever the circumstances, we are called to believe the Lord no matter what. Like Abraham and Sarah, we will soon find that God always keeps His word and His promises always come true.
What sort of challenges have you been facing lately? Have you been struggling with the belief that God loves you, has a plan, and will bring you through as He has promised? Or has the situation become so critical, so vast, and so seemingly impossible, that you have had a hard time holding to your faith? The same God who worked miracles in the past can and will do so again. Don't toy with the idea of believing God and holding to His promises. Trust in Him and move forward in faith.
God still cares, and He will keep His promises.
