¹⁸ In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” ¹⁹ Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb …

Hope against hope—what does that mean? Today we might say “against all hope” to indicate something that has no reasonable hope of success or fulfillment. Abraham had a hope that went beyond human sensibilities, a godly hope based on circumstances beyond what the human mind could conceive. There is more of a “chance” for winning a lottery at odds of 10 million to one, than that Abraham and Sarah would become pregnant at their advanced age. Let’s review the story.

God had promised Abraham that he would become a great nation (Genesis 12:2), and that his descendants would be as numerous as the dust of the earth (Genesis 13:16). Yet when he continued to be childless he began to wonder aloud to the Lord whether the promise would be fulfilled through his servant Eliezer, who would legally inherit all that was Abraham’s (Genesis 15:2-3). God then further clarified that the promise would be fulfilled through physical descent (Genesis 15:4). To reinforce the magnitude of the promise, God “took him outside and said, ‘Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them … So shall your descendants be” (Gen 15:5).

From his physical body would be born a dynasty unprecedented in all the world. Abraham looked and believed. He dared to believe. Against all hope, he believed. This brief record of his faith is remarkable in its conciseness and weighty in its magnitude. The exact quote (according to the NASB translation) is: “Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.” As we mentioned, this statement of Abraham’s faith-righteousness is quoted repeatedly in the NT (Romans 4:3, 22; Galatians 3:6; James 2:23), and is pivotal for all that God was going to do in blessing the world (Genesis 12:1-3).

Even considering the longevity of people at this juncture in history (Abraham lived to be 175 and Sarah 127), faith that Sarah would become pregnant was indeed hope against hope. It wasn’t until Abraham was “about 100 years old” and Sarah was 90 (Gen 17:17) that the first sign of the fulfilled promise emerged. Sarah finally conceived and gave birth to a son—the first of the dust and the stars in number.

Lord, I commit to trusting You and Your promises, even when it requires having hope against hope.