… ²⁰ yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, ²¹ and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.

Wavering in other areas of life, Abraham never waffled in his faith concerning the promise of a multitude of descendants. He may have fled to Egypt during a famine when he should have remained in the land, and he lied about Sarah not being his wife to protect his own skin (Genesis 12). Arguably he may have sought to “help” God by producing a descendant through Sarah’s maidservant (at Sarah’s urging) and adopting that one as his heir (Genesis 16)—after all, wouldn’t this satisfy the promise of a physical descendant? He may have questioned the mechanics of how Sarah would become pregnant at such an advanced age (Genesis 17). But Abraham never doubted God’s promise. He was not perfect, but he believed the promise.

In fact, his faith grew and he continually gave glory to God. Abraham was not a strategist who weighed the odds and then decided to take a chance – what did he have to lose? No, rather he was “fully assured.” His wasn’t a reductionist faith that said, “I know God is able, but I don’t know if He is willing.” He was certain in his belief that God could pull off what He promised. Believing God was able to make Sarah pregnant was tantamount to believing God would in fact make her pregnant. He “contemplated his body as good as dead … the deadness of Sarah’s womb” (Rom 4:19) and he contemplated the God who “gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist” (Rom 4:17), and there was no question where he would rest his faith: not in the deadness of human perception, but in the God who lives. That was not “taking a chance” but placing a resolute belief in a God who had revealed Himself.

Faith that brings righteousness is faith that is wholly centered on God, not on human perceptions. In the context of Paul’s reasoning with the Jewish objectors, the faith God requires and rewards is the kind of faith that Abraham possessed. The Jewish objectors had human-limited faith that they thought God would reward based on their efforts. They were probably even very sincere in their misplaced faith. God rather is looking for a restoration to a faith lost in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve turned from trusting God and His word, to trusting in their own human thinking and devices. God is now looking for us to have a faith like Abraham, who took God at His word. He simply, against all hope, believed God.

Lord, as the one who came to Jesus said, “I believe, help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24), please help me grow in my faith like Abraham did and give You glory.