Romans 4:20 –
Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God.
This chapter is awesome when it comes to understanding that no matter what we do or do not do, our salvation rests in faith and not works. Sure faith without works is dead and we can find instances in the Bible that would imply works are a necessary component in the Christian’s walk. Although necessary, they are not required for one’s salvation.
One often rests on their faith and salvation, goes to church and praises God with all their heart. But they remain stuck in the world when they walk out of the church. They will enjoy eternal salvation with God, but they will have missed out in their lives here on earth. I believe the message we need to take from here is that works are not the “Way”, but a necessary component along the “Way” for a joyous life here on earth. Now with that said one can point to Paul, and his life of misery for his “works”, but through it all he had peace! Not to mention his words have lived thousands of years.
Now I selected this verse not because of the emphasis of faith, but to actually point out a problem. Think about it, if Abraham’s faith never wavered, why did he have a child with Hagar? He had faith God was going to do what He promised, but Abraham took matters into his own hands when thinks God is not as responsive as he should be. It’s normal to want to push God’s promise along, but we must do so in a wise manner or your blessings will be delayed.
God is not a genie that we command, think about it Ishmael arrived some 11 years after the initial promise and Isaac was 25 years later. God took 25 years for that promise! As we saw with the Israelites and Joshua, it took hundreds of years for the promised lands, and even after the initial freedom they still had to wait! So to say Abraham’s faith of being the seed to a great nation never waived is true, but his lack of patience showed some wavering on God’s execution. We need to understand that God’s promise may not come tomorrow or next week, it may take 40+ years! And then we will need to work hard at it, think to Joshua!!