“…the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.”
ROMANS 4:17
Abram found himself in need of that exact kind of God. The child he and Sarah had been promised was definitely a “thing that was not,” and needed to be “called into being.” And God could do that. So just what was taking so long? If Abram’s offspring was to ever bless the earth, time was wasting. They weren’t getting any younger. So God, sensing that a reassurance was necessary, appeared to Abram in a vision.
The wait for a son had now gone way longer than expected. Year after year, no pregnancy, and he and Sarah were getting to the place where an heir would unquestionably be a “miracle baby.” But perhaps that’s what God had in mind all along.
This Sunday, Erik Thoennes will unpack Genesis 15:1-6 for us, reminding us why Abram is referred to as God’s friend. Simply put, he believed God. That simple truth – believing God when the outward circumstances would say otherwise – is what it means to live by faith, not by sight. And that kind of living delights the heart of God and welcomes his blessing.
Why does what happened to Abram matter to us? Paul connects the dots in Romans.
“Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham.
He is the father of us all. As it is written: ‘I have made you a father of many nations.’ He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed— the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.”
ROMANS 4:16-17
We are Abram’s offspring, and by faith, the promise made to him is ours as well. The same unchanging God who blessed him, is the same One who still gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.
Leave a Reply