The Life of AbrahamSample

Trusting

Up to this point, the Lord has told Abram he will conceive a son, but many years have passed without a child being born. This brings Abram and his wife Sarai to pretend to carry out a very human concept: assisting God. Since Sarai is old and beyond childbearing years, they find a way for Abram to conceive a son. Consistent with the custom of the day, Sarai offers her Egyptian maid, Hagar, to be a birth mother for Abram’s child. To this point, God had only promised that Abram would father a child, not that he would father a child from Sarai. They thought this would fulfill God’s promise.

The Bible does not criticize them for taking this action. God blesses Hagar as well as her son, Ishmael, but He has something else in mind for Abram. God later reveals that the child of promise will not be Hagar’s son, but will come from Sarai.

God gave humankind the ability to choose. This is the way we are most like Him. He encourages us to take action, but sometimes our actions are far inferior to what God has in mind. His ways are higher.

Once Sarai passed childbearing age, it wasn’t unreasonable for them to follow the custom of the day to allow Abram a means to father a son. It might have been something like adoption nowadays. God gives Abram and Sarai greater encouragement—something beyond human comprehension—a miracle child will be the heir to His Promise.

All along the way, God is leading, teaching, and empowering Abram to make choices while holding the future completely in His hands. This is also a miracle. The miracle of a sovereign and loving God who encourages us to choose His will, and then blesses us beyond what we can imagine just for stepping out in faith.

Abraham’s story should be an incredible encouragement for us. He was an ordinary man who, given hindsight, made choices we might not approve of. But Abram was not reading a script. He was living a beautiful story of faith and redemption, and it seems God blessed him just for trusting Him.

As we try to steward our actions and decisions, we can lean on the character of a loving Heavenly Father who redeems our choices and who desires that we learn and grow in faith.