My kids love to watch the movie Christmas Story…you know. Ralphie and the Red Ryder BB Gun? You’ll shoot your eye out!
There’s a scene where the kids are all on the playground in the freezing cold winter arguing about whether or not someone’s tongue would stick to the cold flagpole. And then, one of the boys threw down the gauntlet. “I triple dog dare you!” Gasp! The triple dog dare. You’ve got to really be confident in what you believe to take the triple dog dare.
Dare means the courage or confidence to do something.
Abraham was first named “father” and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing. When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, “You’re going to have a big family, Abraham!” Abraham didn’t focus on his own impotence and say, “It’s hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child.” Nor did he survey Sarah’s decades of infertility and give up. He didn’t tiptoe around God’s promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God, sure that God would make good on what he had said. Romans 4:17-24
I love this picture of Abraham’s faith. He is such a great example of what it looks like to believe God, not waiver, and receive what God promised. He became the Father of many nations because he dared to trust God to do what only He could do. He didn’t ask skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise. That’s what it says here, right?
So, I hopped back into Genesis to revisit Genesis 12-21 from God giving the promise to Abraham to the fulfillment of Isaac. And I saw a question or two. I saw what looked like wavering to me. I saw myself in Abraham’s story a lot, and it brought me hope.
Genesis 12-21 and Romans 4 are powerful picture of the faith it takes to, like Abraham, receive what was promised. What does faith look like? What is wavering? Do I waver? Do I ever ask questions? Is that okay or does it disqualify me? How far have I plunged into the promise?
If you’ve ever wondered if you’re wavering or what Abraham’s faith really looked like, this will hopefully help shed some light for you like it did for me. I found it’s not as difficult as I thought to have Abraham’s faith. Take a listen….
Blessings,
toni…
