Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead – since he was about a hundred years old – and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. (NIV)

“Don’t worry,” my mom added as an addendum to her book recommendation, “the three friends are okay in in the end.” Though someone listening to our conversation might have thought she had just made the book not worth reading, her intent was to build my confidence in getting through the book because I’d told her I don’t tend to like books that are too dark or sad or scary. She gave me the end so I could get through the hard middle.

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I think that sometimes when I read the Bible, I don’t fully comprehend the radical faith some of the men and women must have had because I have read the end of their stories, the promises that God fulfilled. I recently studied Genesis chapter 6, where God tells Noah he planned to destroy the Earth with a flood and that, if Noah built a huge boat, he and his family would survive. I know, because the next chapter says so, that it rained and rained and that Noah and his family survived, but for many, many years Noah did not know for sure if that was going to happen just as God said. Noah’s story is just one of many in the Bible where God makes a promise and delivers, but the humans in these stories, with all their doubts and fears – just as real as the ones we feel each day too – also had to get through the hard middle of the story.

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A little later in Genesis we see the promise, or covenant in this case, that God made with Abram, who God later gives the name Abraham. Right off the bat in chapter 12, it says, “The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse and all peoples on earth will be bless through you.’”  

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When this promise was made, Abram’s wife Sarai (later Sarah) had not been able to conceive a child (11:30). So, with currently no children and having been sent off to a new land, Abram must have wondered how God would fulfill these promises to him. And yet, he waited faithfully, Romans tells us. He “hoped against hope,” as the NRSV translation says.  

Abraham had both faith and hope. John Piper said, “Hope is the part of faith that focuses on the future.” Hebrews 11:1 says that “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” One explanation of the difference between faith and hope I came across said that faith involves a belief in God’s goodness and trust in his promises, while hope is the anticipation of their fulfillment.  

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All of these definitions of faith are helpful to understand how Abraham was able to wait on the Lord for the family he thought was an impossibility at his advanced age. He couldn’t see a way for God to do what God had promised, but he held on to his hope and waited. In a sermon called “In Defense of Hope,” Jackie Hill Perry imagines what the Israelites should have said to themselves as they impatiently waited for Moses because they were scared and needed direction: “God is not a liar, so if He said he would go before us, we can wait and trust that He will show up.” But they didn’t. They made a golden calf to worship instead of the one true God. They abandoned what God had promised and went their own way. They’d been given the end of the story, but while stuck in the wilderness, they decided to write their own ending.  

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There are many promises God has made us in the Bible that we can hold on to as we wait. God promises to provide for us in Matthew 6. God promises to protect us from the enemy in 2 Thessalonians 3:3. God also promises he will never leave us in Hebrews 13:5. These are just a few examples that you can rely on in difficult times. Faith is being convinced of and then putting your hope in the truth that God has the power to do what he has promised. God can send a flood or help an elderly woman conceive a child because nothing is impossible for him. Do you have the hope and faith to live like you believe that today?

God, I will praise you for being the One who always keeps your promises. You are unfailing. Forgive us for the times when we think you won’t come through for us, that you aren’t listening, or when we get impatient waiting on you to fulfill your promises. Help us to have the hope of Abraham as he waited for a son. Help us to give you glory as we wait on what you’ve promised. In your holy and mighty name, we pray, Amen.