Abraham – The journey from Doubtful faith to “The Father of Faith”.

Abraham, is a key figure in the History of the world. He is the father of two groups of People – The Ishmaelites & The Israelites. He is also a key figure in the Christian life. His life gives us many lessons in how faith has to progress in a believer’s life.

Abraham was from a family that made and sold idols. They had no idea of God the Father. However, God who is ever Gracious intervened in his life in Genesis12:1.  Every man and woman would get this intervention in their life because of the abundant Grace of God even if they live in an environment, which has no exposure to the one true God.

Now we see how Abraham responded to this call from God. Genesis 12:4, says “So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him…”. This was a baby step, faith with incomplete understanding.

A few verses later in Genesis 12: 10-20, we see a moment of weak faith. He lies about Sarah fearing for his life. This happened because his  Faith at that time lacked the understanding. Sometimes when a person is new in Faith it gets shaken by small fears. But God in His graciousness, helps Abraham by shielding him from harm. Even in our early faith lives, God keeps helping us when we falter. Even the Psalmist says “If I say my foot slips, Your mercy, o Lord, will hold me up” in Psalms 98: 14.

In Genesis 13: 8-12, we see the faith of Abraham progress a little further. He lets Lot choose the better land, believing God will provide for him.

Then we see in Genesis 15:5-6, Abraham believes in God’s words of multiplying his descendants as numerous as the stars. This God accounted to his for righteousness. This shows us that righteousness is trusting God, having faith in God in Him fulfilling the promises He has given us.

But further down in Genesis 16:1-4, we see this faith shaken again because of the prodding of his partner – Sarah, and Ismael is born.

At this juncture is when Abraham gets a test from God in Obedience, in a small way. God tells him to circumcise all the males in his family as a covenant– and Abraham Obeyed. (Genesis: 17). Abraham was 99 years old when he obeyed – not an easy age to bear the pain.

In Genesis 20 though, we see Abraham falter due to fear for life at Gerar, where he again lies about Sarah. It was an imaginary fear born out of misunderstanding again. But God reveals His mercy again to Abraham.

In Genesis 21:1-3, Abraham gets to taste the “Is Anything too hard for the Lord” moment in his life. Isaac is born. An impossible thing given the couple’s age. We must understand that this moment did not come to him at the beginning of his Journey in Faith. It came after a few slips and misses. However, this proof of how great the God he serves, helps him transform into the “Father of Faith”, we know of. Because in Genesis 22, when God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, Abraham was willing to give up the promise itself and showed his full maturity in faith.

If God had granted Sarah and Abraham a child much earlier and not till they were 90 and 100, they would not have tasted God as the One for Who –“Is Anything too Hard”. This shows that when things are delayed beyond the norm in a believer’s life – it’s a path that God is leading them to experience “Is Anything too Hard for the Lord”. If Isaac had been born in the natural course of time, we would not have had an incident that shows “Is Anything too hard for the Lord”.  Imagine the neighbors, the slaves and servants of the couple. They might have looked down upon them, they might have ridiculed them in their hearts. But now, their mouths and eyes would have widened with surprise and may even have helped them in their journey of Faith in the Lord. In a way, this part of the life of Abraham became a powerful message for all who knew Abraham. It was their call from God to believe in Him.

Faith in God is believing the unimaginable not believing the norm. Wish you a happy journey in Faith in the Lord.

If there is a seemingly insurmountable mountain in the path that God has asked you to follow – God would either destroy the hill or give you wings to fly over it or give you the legs like the mountain goats to easily climb over it – just Believe in Him.

Praise the Lord.

Glory to Jesus.