In studying the book of Romans, specifically chapter 4, a
rather huge revelation was made clear to me; it starts with understanding just
how great Abraham’s faith was. Abraham was about 100 years old when God
promised to him that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars. And
Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his
faith. (Genesis 15:6) Later in Genesis 17, Abraham’s name changes and he is
told he will have countless descendants and be the father of many nations.
Here
is this guy who is 100 years old and his wife who is about 90 years old and the
God of the universe is telling him that he will have a son and countless
descendants. They have just lived through many years of being barren and have
undoubtedly started to believe that having children was not going to happen.
Now, I don’t know about menopause in those days but certainly it is very
conceivable that Sarah had already gone through menopause and her body was not
capable of producing an offspring. I think of my brief few years of secondary
infertility and have a small idea of what it was that Sarah and Abraham must
have felt. You feel hopeless but Abraham’s faith is greater than this
hopelessness.
Abraham believes God when he tells him he is going to have a son, an
heir and descendants numerous as the stars. Despite their very old age and the
years of living with being barren; despite the fact that Sarah's body is very
likely beyond capable of having a baby. Abraham believes what the Lord tells
him is true and he has faith that God is faithful in his promise to him.
But
the real revelation is that I am one of those stars. My faith in Jesus has made
me righteous in the presence of our holy God. Abraham is the father of faith.
He demonstrated to us what faith is, preparing us to believe in Jesus. Our
faith in Jesus makes us a part of Abraham’s descendants. We are one of those
countless stars in the sky.
Abraham’s descendants will continue to grow as each
new believer accepts Jesus as their Lord and Savior by faith alone. New stars
are being made each day that a new believer is born again. We are part of a
rather ginormous family; that is the part that is so awesome.
