Are you waiting on a miracle that feels unattainable amidst your facts?

Have you been waiting on God’s promise for so long that the promise feels pointless?

Has there been so much carnage from the waiting that the miracle or promise feels like it will no longer suffice?

Don’t hang your head just yet.

Think on God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah.

Abraham would be the father of many nations.

Then think on the dismal facts that followed that promise.

Abraham and Sarah were barren month after month.  And the years kept coming and going.

Abraham was nearly a hundred years old.

He and Sarah were as good as dead physically and reproductively.

God’s promise must have felt increasingly laughable and futile with each passing day.

Even if God brought His promise to pass,  would it matter in light of the loss of time that had already occurred?

I can imagine their thoughts.

Second-guessing. Did God really promise this?

Qualifying the promise. Maybe God meant something different or we misunderstood Him?

Accepting defeat. God wouldn’t wait this long, and this situation is irreversible–time to just cope and move on.

But we know that’s not how it went.

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.

Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

Romans‬ ‭4:18-21 (NIV).

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed.

Without weakening in his faith, he faced the facts.

He did not waver through unbelief. He was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God.

God brought the specific promise to pass in an unimaginable way, even if the timeline looked vastly different than Abraham and Sarah imagined:

As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”

[Abraham] is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.

Romans‬ ‭4:17‬ ‭(NIV‬‬).

We serve that same God today.

The God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.

Throughout the gospels, our Lord Jesus calls into being things that are not:

She is only asleep. [Matthew 9:23-26 (NIV).]

Your brother will rise again. [John 11:17-44 (NIV).]

You are healed. [Matthew 9:18-22 (NIV).]

Your sins are forgiven. [Matthew 9:1-8 (NIV).]

I will rise again on the third day. [Matthew 17:22-23 (NIV).]

Our God makes good on His promises, dear friend.

Against all hope.

Against all hope.

Against all hope.

Abraham in hope believed.

Your facts may be against all hope.

But you are never without hope.

We serve the most Creative Being who ever will be.

He is playing the long game.

So be like Abraham and Sarah.

Trust in the God who gives life to the dead, who calls into being things that are not.

And give God all the glory when He brings it to pass.

I’ve been very busy making homemade cinnamon roll lattes these days.

Not to toot my own horn or anything.

Beep. Beep.

Much love to you,

Paige