I WILL NEVER LOOK AT THE NIGHT SKY THE SAME AGAIN

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.