Romans 4:18-21 (NIV): Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead–since he was about a hundred years old–and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.
God is always able to accomplish everything He promises, no matter how impossible it might seem to the ones reading or hearing the promise. When He promised Abraham a son through Sarah, it would have been easy and perfectly normal for him to doubt His word, or at least to have “interpreted” it into something that he could believe. But God’s promises don’t need to be reduced to things mere men can accomplish; they don’t need to be reduced in scope or volume to what people can figure out how to do. God created the whole universe from nothing, with only the words of His mouth. If He can do that, what is too hard for Him? Abraham blew it in the beginning by listening to Sarah’s scaled back interpretation of God’s promise, working to accomplish something like it by purely human means. But he didn’t actually accomplish in his own strength what God had promised, just a small imitation of it, without the power or potential of what He had actually planned. When Abraham simply believed in God for the fulfillment of His promises, then he got to see what the Lord could really do – to bring a newborn baby to an old man and woman, and her barren her whole life. It is only when God’s people stop trying to make His promises come true through purely human strategies, when they just listen and obey, that they get to experience His mighty miracles. It is only when they reach the end of their own cleverness and simply trust in His word that they can live in the wonder of all that He can do.
Father, You have promised us some pretty amazing things, some of which You have brought about already, but none of which would be possible through our own efforts. We praise You for all that You have done, and ask that You help us to trust You and to rely wholly on You for the “even greater things” that You have promised us. I trust You to do all that You have promised. Amen!