Fully Persuaded

Abraham was old. His wife Sarah was old. God had promised a son, but they had waited year after year, until both were long past the age of childbearing. But then God told them that within the next year, Sarah would give birth to their long awaited son, just as God had promised.

Romans 4 says about Abraham,

"Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.

And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb:

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

And being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform." (4:18-21)

God had promised something that was literally and physically impossible, but Abraham chose to believe it, to hope "against hope", trusting that God would be both able and faithful to keep His promises.

He was "fully persuaded".

He didn't just hope, he believed in hope. It was a definite choice to trust the faithfulness of the One who had promised. Neither did he allow the impossibility of the thing promised to shake his trust. He "staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief". In fact, he didn't even let himself dwell upon the impossibility, "considering not" the fact that neither he nor his wife were even capable of conceiving a child. God had waited until all human hope was gone, until even the possibility of hope had disappeared. --And aren't you glad He did?

We can look back at Abraham and be encouraged by God's faithfulness and power, or we can be tempted to dismiss it. We might think, well, that was so long ago, and it was for Abraham, that was different. But it's really not. Thousands of years later, we still have things God has promised to us in His Word. We still have things that seem --or perhaps are-- humanly impossible, that God asks us to believe He will do.

 A modern day example of faith in the face of impossibilities is Adoniram Judson. He knew God was calling him to take the gospel to foreign lands, but at that time, there were no American missionaries, nor were there any churches or societies prepared to send any. He tried to convince the missionary society in England to send some American missionaries out, but they declined. Then, after much effort, many disappointments and roadblocks, he and his wife Anne set off, with another missionary couple, for India. Through a lengthy series of circumstances, God redirected the Judsons to Burma, where Adoniram served as a missionary the rest of his life.

Much of that time, however, was filled with hardships and sorrows. During a war between Burma and England, he was incarcerated in a prison camp, where prisoners were deprived of food, chained together, with no shelter from the sun, rain, or insects. His wife brought him food for a time, but she became ill and he had to give their baby into the care of a stranger. After the war was over, Judson traveled back to their missionary station in Rangoon, only to find it deserted. Their few converts had been dispersed or discouraged by the war and its aftermath, and it seemed they would have to start all over. Through all this, the Judsons trusted God. They were known for saying, "The future is as bright as all the promises of God."

And it was. Though Adoniram Judson's life was filled with hardships and sorrows, God used him to bring the gospel to the previously unreached Karen people, and to translate the Bible into the Burmese language.  Judson's efforts are still bearing fruit to this day. Though he had times when he struggled to see God's purpose in the things which God had allowed in his life, Judson clung to the truth that God would keep His promises. He, like Abraham, was "fully persuaded", and God was fully faithful.

Which of God's promises seem impossible to you? Will you choose to trust, to be fully persuaded that God can perform that which He has promised?

"Faithful is He that calleth you, Who also will do it."

1 Thessalonians 5:24