Wednesday 28 March, 2018

8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. 13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

I’m struck by two things about Abraham and his faith.

He trusted God for big things.

He lived in the land that God promised, but it would be generations before his descendants would possess it. But he was looking beyond that to the Heavenly home God was building for him.

He had a son with Sarah. It would be many generations before his descendants would be counted as nations. But he was looking beyond that to his descendant by whom all nations would be blessed: Jesus.

It says he had this extraordinary faith because he “believed the one who made the promise is faithful”. He knew God’s character because he knew God. He knew God because he walked with him. And I know his faithfulness too.

And I’m struck that the things Abraham did were only a tiny part of the enormous things God was doing. Yet God gave him an extraordinarily significant part, as a gift.

I’m in no way necessary to what God is doing, and the part he has given me is only a small piece of the enormous things he is doing now. But he gives me significance in the part I have. He gives me the greatest significance as his son.

Father stretch me, stretch my understanding of how great the things you are doing are; how great your faithfulness is; and the enormity of the blessing of the part you give me in them.

Written by David Cornell