Scripture
Genesis 12:1-5
Genesis 22:1-19
Hebrews 11:1-12:3
In Hebrews 11, we find what many people call, “The Hall of Faith.” It includes so many people in there who have showed great faith throughout the Old Testament. Many of them are people who are listed in Jesus’s genealogy and ones we will learn about in this series, "What's In a Name?" where we go through the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1. As we started out this week with Abraham, we saw how he showed great faith several times. Abraham is actually including in Hebrews 11 twice.
The first, is in 11:8-12 and it talks about how by faith Abraham obeyed God and left his home, even though he didn’t know where God was going to take him. By faith he made his home in the promised land. By faith, Sarah and Abraham were able to have a child in their old age. Then, in verses 17-19, we see that by faith Abraham was willing to offer Isaac as a sacrifice when God told him to. Here we get a little insight into what Abraham was thinking and how he made sense of this all. He trusted God and knew how powerful and good he was, and reasoned that God could raise the dead. So, he was going to obey God, doing what he told him to do, and trust that he would continue to fulfill his promise of making his descendants so numerous, and that being through Isaac.
In Scripture we see several stories of God raising people from the dead, including of course, Jesus. But these were all after Abraham’s lifetime. He didn’t have that proof that God could do it because he has in the past, he just knew that God is a powerful, almighty God who can do anything. He also trusted that God keeps his promises. So, if he promised to give him a son and that through him, God would fulfill the promise to bless the nations, he wouldn’t take him away from him. And if he did, he is powerful enough to bring him back.
Sometimes, God calls us to do something and we don’t understand it. We may not know why, or how, or when, or have all the answers to the many questions that can fill our minds. But one thing we can learn from Abraham is that we don’t need to know all of those things. We don’t need to have all the answers. What we need to do is trust that God knows what he is doing and if he’s calling you to do something, he will guide you through it and be with you every step of the way. I pray that we can have faith like Abraham’s, where we would be willing to do whatever God calls us to and trust him every step of the way, knowing that we can fully trust him.
Prayer
God, will you increase my faith in the areas that I struggle to trust you. Remind me again and again of your faithfulness and goodness and that you are a God I can trust. Give me the faith to obey you even when I don’t fully understand the why, how, or when, behind it.
Questions/Journal Prompts
Feel free to use these questions as a guide as you journal and/or pray.
1. What is an area of your life that you need more faith or need to trust God more with?
2. Do you feel like there is something God is calling you to do? (That could be a future job, or going on a mission trip, or befriending or talking to someone at school, or serving in an area at church, etc.)
3. What are some areas in your life where you have seen God be faithful in the past? Does that help you to increase your faith in the present as you look back on his past faithfulness?
Songs to listen to
Spend some time listening to these songs, reflecting on the words, and sitting with Jesus.
“Promises” by Maverick City Music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5m09rqOoxE
“Give Me Faith” by Elevation Worship https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjFIhTNDyz0
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