Pastors Ponderings

I’ve always loved reading about Abraham and Sarah. They are the Patriarchs of the faith and they are rightly honoured for their steadfast loyalty to God.

Most of you know the story. God promised that a generational line as numerous as the stars would come through them and that from Abraham’s descendants would come the means for God to bless the whole world. And even though it was physically impossible for Abraham or Sarah to have children, they believed God would do what he had promised; and after a long wait, it happened, and they had a son called Isaac.  

However, the fulfilment of the promises of God isn’t why I love Abraham and Sarah’s story. I love that they fail in their faith in God, over and over again. God makes a promise and they laugh in the face of God; they plot a scheme for Abraham to have a child through another woman, which makes for the worst sibling rivalry in history; Abraham gives his wife away to another man… not once but twice!

Honestly, theirs is a story that contains a lot of examples when they discredited themselves. Yet, Romans 4 tells us that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.

Faith in God is as much about failing and blowing it and wrong attitudes as it is about the times we make right choices.  Faith in God isn’t about being perfect. Faith in God is about admitting when we blow it; repenting for our attitudes and doubts that cause us to waver; and most importantly faith is about going again.   

I bet your journey of faith in believing in God is a lot closer to Abraham and Sarah’s story than you had realised.