Impossible! - Himalayan Heights - April 29 Readings: Hebrews 11:8-19 – Abraham

 Hebrews 11 - The Hall of Faith

All Scripture is God-breathed and useful, but there are some Scriptures that we can consider the Himalayan mountaintops of the Bible. In the next few months, we will be looking at a series of great texts that inspire and move us - the "Himalayan Heights" of God's Word.

Today's Reading:  Hebrews 11

If you have time, read the entire chapter, Hebrews 11. Our key passage today is verses 11-19, and you should spend time focusing and meditating on those verses.

8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents as did Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 

11 By faith even Sarah herself, when she was unable to have children, received power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the age, since she considered that the one who had promised was faithful. 12 Therefore, from one man—in fact, from one as good as dead—came offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and as innumerable as the grains of sand along the seashore. 

13 These all died in faith, although they had not received the things that were promised. But they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth. 14 Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they were thinking about where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to return. 16 But they now desire a better place—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. 

17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He received the promises and yet he was offering his one and only son, 18 the one to whom it had been said, Your offspring will be traced through Isaac. 19 He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead; therefore, he received him back, figuratively speaking.

Through the Bible Readings: 1 Samuel 17-18, Luke 18:31–43, Psalm 54, Proverbs 11:29-31

If you wish to read through the Bible in a year, follow these readings. 

Devotional: Impossible!

Think about the life of Abraham, a man of faith. He was far from perfect and the Bible makes that clear, but he was a man who walked by faith and that faith was credited to him as righteousness. Look at what it meant for Abraham to live by faith.

He was told, at age 75, to leave his home and travel to a new land, a Promised Land. God did not tell him where he was going, but only said to travel, and he would be told when he'd reached the destination. My wife has been good about picking up and moving across the country when I sensed God's leading to new ministries over our 42 years of marriage, but I cannot imagine her reaction if I told her we needed to pack up and leave, but God hadn't yet shown me where we were going. God told Abraham and Sarah who had never been able to have children that they would have Descendents like the sand on the seashore. Finally, when God finally did give them a son 25 years later, God told Abraham to sacrifice that son as proof of his devotion to God. We know the "rest of the story" - that God provided a sacrifice of his own, but Abraham had to prove his devotion to the Father.

In each of these situations, there was a situation that was ridiculous, unthinkable, or even impossible. A man approaching 100 and his nearly 90-year-old wife do not conceive a child when they have been barren all their lives. Sacrificing the son you love, the one you waited a century to get from God, is unthinkable. And leaving home to go to a land you don't know is ridiculous. All of these circumstances were impossible or ridiculous or unthinkable, but Abraham trusted God enough to obey him and do what he said.

That is the essence of the faith extolled in Hebrews 11. We believe in a God we cannot see enough to do what he says even when we do not understand him, when his commands make no sense, when they are difficult, and yes, even when obedience seems impossible. We are not driven only by human reason or logic, though these are not inherently evil. We do not simply operate on the basis of common sense, though using it fine most of the time! We operate in obedience to God's word and the work of his Holy Spirit in us.

Many times, the call of God will not make sense to us. Circumstances will tell us that God's word cannot possibly be true and things will never work out. Our emotions will tell us that it is impossible, that we can never do what God wants us to do. Forgive my enemies? Rejoice in suffering? Leave home and family to serve the Lord? Impossible. That cannot be. It makes no sense.

But faith, the faith that pleases God and enables us to walk as these faithful saints did in biblical days, is all about obeying God without regard to circumstances or our feelings. We trust a God we cannot see and live for rewards that will be ours in eternity.

Father, help me to walk by faith today, to live by your word and follow your Spirit, regardless of my circumstances or my feelings. 

Think and Pray:

Do you live by your own reason and logic, or by the word of God and the Holy Spirit?
Can you think of a time when circumstances said God's word was impossible, but you obeyed and God did a mighty work?