The Faith Of Abraham
THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM
HEBREWS 11:8-12
Faith is a matter of trusting God and accepting and obeying his word.
Throughout the New Testament Abraham is regarded as the prime example of faith. Faith, for him, was not conventional piety. The point first brought out here is Abraham’s willingness to act with nothing to go on except his faith in God. He knew he was called by God but he could not have justified to unbelievers a journey that meant leaving his country, his family and his father’s house (Genesis 12:1). But his faith in God was such that he acted on God’s word. He did leave his home, his family, and in fact his whole way of life.
Nor was that the end of it. He had been promised the land of Canaan, but he lived in it not as possessor but as a visitor. Isaac and Jacob shared the promise with him, but they all lived in tents, obviously temporary dwellers in the land. But Abraham’s vision was fixed, not on the things that anyone could see, but on “the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (11:10). It is still the case that faith does not fix its attention on the same things as the world does. The essence of faith is that it gives the prime place to God and his leading.
Other people were associated with Abraham. We have already noticed that Isaac and Jacob are said to have shared in his life. So also did Sarah, who was able to conceive only “by faith” (11:11). It is worth noticing that her initial reaction was anything but one of faith (Genesis 18:12ff.). But God did not judge her by her worst moment (as he does not judge us by ours). Sarah’s settled attitude was one of faith, not doubt. She trusted God and “considered him faithful” (11:11). So God honored the faith of his servants, and from one man “as good as dead” in time there descended a great nation (11:12).