Faith In The Utterly Impossible

Faith in the Utterly Impossible

Bible Blast: Read Genesis 15:1-6

Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!” Romans 4:18

A few years ago, God called my family to adopt a thirteen-year-old girl from China named Qiu Yun (Cho-yoon), which means Autumn Cloud. She was almost fourteen years old and only months away from being without a family for the rest of her life. We felt God leading us to adopt her. The only problem was that we needed $25,000 within just a few weeks. A family friend gave us $12,000 to get started, but we still needed $13,000. It seemed impossible! With no hope other than hope in what God can do, we began to pray for $13,000. One day, my accountant called and told me that my tax records were messed up. That sounded like awful news, but we kept praying. Later, my accountant called back and said, “Good news. The IRS owes you $$13,06000.” We had the check within a few weeks. In August of 2007, Autumn Gresh became a part of our family.

Abram was in a similar situation in Genesis 15. When Abram died he would pass all his belongings on to his servant Eliezar. Though Abram loved Eliezar very much, he wanted a son to carry on the family name. It seemed “utterly impossible” that he’d ever have a child since he was already very old, but God came to him and promised him that he would. And Abram believed God’s promise against all hope.

Romans 4:3 says, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous.” It was faith that made Abraham right before God. Even though going to church, reading your Bible, and praying are important, those are only outward actions. They don’t make us right with God. Only faith—that God is who he says he is, that he will do what he has promised, and that he has saved us by Christ’s blood—makes us right with God.

So what about you? Do you have faith that God can do the utterly impossible?

Girl Gab: Mom, I’ll bet there has been a time in your life when God really did what he promised you he would do. Share that with your daughter. Daughter, maybe you need faith that God will heal you or someone you love. Maybe you need faith that God will either give you a friend or be a friend. Ask your mom to pray for you about a situation in which you need some extra faith.