Faith to obey and to receive
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going (Hebrews 11:8).
By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised (Hebrews 11:11).
There is one person who is mentioned concerning the power of faith more than any other – Abraham. In verse 8 we are told Abraham had the faith to obey God. He simply believed God and was willing to start out on a path, not knowing where it would lead him. All great men and women of faith have been able to trust God in this way. As an uneducated young Christian, Gladys Aylward was employed as a cleaner. She was convinced that God was calling her to serve Him in China. She approached the China Inland Mission, but was rejected. Undaunted, she saved every week until she had the fare to take the daunting Trans-Siberian rail journey alone to China. Her astonishing story is told in the book “The London Sparrow”. We are not all called to China, but we are called to obey God. Obedience is something all Christians struggle with, and its simplicity confounds us. But on those rare occasions when, by one circumstance or another, we are forced to have complete faith in God, we discover the joy of knowing that God really does respond to our trust in Him.
Like Noah, Abraham’s faith was shared by his wife, Sarah (v. 11). If you read Sarah’s story in Genesis 18, you will learn that she laughed at the news that she would become a mother in her old age. Hardly an act of faith, you would think. But later, when Isaac, whose name means “he laughs”, is born, Sarah says, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.” This was the joy of faith. Sarah understood the work of God in her life and the fulfilment of God’s promises to Abraham in Isaac. She had the faith to receive from God and rejoice in what He accomplished in her life.
This is an essential aspect of faith. We need to have the faith to receive from God. In Malachi 3, God says to His people:
“Try Me now in this …
If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.”
In 2 Kings 4, when Elisha asks the widow who was in debt what she has in the house, she had nothing but a jar of oil. He tells her to borrow vessels from everywhere and to fill them with the oil from the jar. She had the faith to receive, and found as many containers as she could. She did not run out of oil; she ran out of containers to fill! Only then did the flow of oil stop. She had faith to receive. We need to ask God to enable us to receive the blessing He wants to give us through faith: only believe.
It is always encouraging to see faith expressed in a married couple, like Abraham and Sarah. It is so important to uphold before the throne of grace our Christian marriages. Faith is needed not only for our personal walk with God, but also as we walk in love together for the glory of God.
