Romans Chapter 4:

Romans Chapter 4:

16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.

19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb:

20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

The trial of Abraham's faith was quite a situation indeed. We should keep in mind that we are the seed of Abraham, who have faith in Jesus Christ. As the Seed of Abraham we are the seed of faith, and our faith is always going to be tried because we are in a world full of uncertainty and instability. Abraham received the word from God about his seed to come when he was 75 years old, but that word did not come to pass until he was 100 years old; so it is without question that his faith was greatly tried, seeing that he came to a hundred years old and his wife was 90 years old, and the promise had still not yet been fulfilled. None-the-less God is faithful and he brought that promise to its fulfillment and completion, and did that which was impossible to do. So as the seed of Abraham we should not be surprised and shocked that we find ourselves in circumstances that are often very difficult and sometimes impossible. When the scripture says that Abraham hoped against hope, it means that he maintained hope in circumstances, and in strong feelings that appeared to be hopeless.

The Bible says that "the things that were written aforetime written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope" (Rom. 15:4). The reason that we need patience and the comfort of scriptures like these things concerning Abraham, is because we too find ourselves in circumstances that are accompanied with strong feelings and appearances of things being hopeless in our situations in life. Nonetheless if what we are seeking to do or to have is something good, then God is for us and will bring good things to pass for us, though sometimes those good things may appear to be impossible to attain to. We especially can hope against hope regarding things to do with things like healing because we already have God's established will written for us in the scriptures about healing. As it is written, "with his stripes we are healed," so it is the will of God to heal us and those we pray for from any and all afflictions (Isa. 53:5). And sometimes we may have a personal word from God about a thing in our lives, and what follows that word seems to be everything contrary to that word, and nothing that appears to fulfill that word.

Yet we can always look to the father of our faith, Abraham, who hoped against hope; and did not stagger in unbelief, but was strong in faith, bringing glory to God. So if we are to be the true seed of Abraham and the true children of Abraham, then we can both expect these kinds of things to happen in our lives, and we can also stand strong in faith, and not stagger in unbelief; but rather we can also hope against hope, and continue to believe the promise of God, and do what pleases God in our lives on the way to that promise being fulfilled. This is the only path to victory in all things in our lives, up to and very much including our salvation. But the good news is that we are called not only to being tried, but I also to victory in all things, because Jesus has gained that victory for us by his death at Calvary and his resurrection from the dead. By being in Christ we are the Seed of Abraham, and that means that we are called to the same kind of faith Abraham had. So we can be both encouraged in our faith by the faith of Abraham, and also comforted in realizing that our faith is also going to be tried, even as was the faith of Abraham our father.