The Nature of Faith, part 6

And not being weak in faith,
he did not consider his own body, already dead
(since he was about a hundred years old),
and the deadness of Sarah's womb.
Romans 4:19, NKJV

What do you do when the promises of God say one thing, and the reality of the situation says another? This is where the rubber of our faith meets the road of God's faithfulness. I use that analogy because the road is constant. It is solid and firm, and though winding, it will get you where the map says it goes. But my faith is ever turning, and my tires aren't always consistent. They get bulges and bald spots. Right now one of the tires on my truck has a slow leak that I have to keep refilling until I take the time to have it fixed. If a tire sits in the same position too long, it gets misshapen and rots. Are there lessons to be learned there? If anything, faith needs to be active.

Take Abraham for instance. He was "about a hundred" when God showed up at the door of his tent for a conversation. Among other things they discussed, God told Abraham that Sarah was going to give him a son. The first time God said it, Abraham laughed. The second time God said it, Sarah laughed. But it is God who laughed last, for when that boy entered the world, they named him laughter. That's a good way to put another spin on your faith.

Abraham was ninety-nine, Sarah was ninety. People may have aged differently back in the patriarchal days, for they lived much longer. Sarah died at 127, Abraham at 175. I've often tried to think of it in relative terms, comparing their lifespans to ours. In other words, Abraham and Sarah were middle-aged. She had likely gone through The Change, and Abraham probably experienced some Dysfunction. They weren't young people anymore. He didn't have the toned muscular physique of his prime. She was still beautiful, but perhaps that perfect hourglass figure had broadened and softened a bit. The pitter-patter of their hearts wasn't attraction and infatuation, it was atrial fibrillation. Their hair was gray, their faces wrinkled, and let's face it, a lifetime of nomadic tent dwelling could not have been an easy one. The years had taken a toll on their bodies.

So when God showed up and said they were going to have a son, it wasn't the easiest thing to believe in. God had to repeat Himself several times and endure some mental jesting from his two chosen servants. Finally, he said, "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" The obvious answer being no, that put an end to the discussion.

Abraham was a man of faith, a man who had always put feet to his prayers. When God said get up and go, he got up and went. When God said pack your bags, Abraham was ready. He did not consider the lifelessness of his own body, nor the lifelessness in Sarah's womb. I've got a sneaking suspicion that these two people, who had lived and walked by faith for a quarter-century in following God, acted upon that enduring faith regarding this promise too. After dinner that night, I'm pretty sure they had a little private alone time that we won't speculate on here.

And the wheels of faith kept on turning