All of us have face moments where our circumstances stand in opposition to God’s promises to us. In those moments the facts of our situation can seem overwhelming. When faith and facts collide, who will you believe? Facts can be loud. We see them, hear them and feel them. However, the truth is greater than the facts. The truth is what sets us free. We put our hope in God who does not lie, nor does He fail. Where we place our faith will not only determine our next steps, it will set the course for our life. It’s not about denying the facts of our circumstance. It’s about denying the facts the authority to overrule God’s Word in our life.
In Romans 4, Paul is talking about having this kind of faith. He uses Abraham as our example. The facts were that he and Sarah were beyond child bearing years when God made the promise that he would be the father of many nations. Instead of giving the facts the authority to overrule God’s voice, he worshipped and trusted His ability to do what He promised. It was years before God fulfilled the promise to him, but he kept trusting God. The Bible says that he was fully persuaded that God would keep His word. God counted his faith as righteousness. When the time came, Sarah got pregnant and gave birth to a boy whom they named Isaac. His name meant laughter. She had laughed in disbelief at first, but when she trusted God, she laughed in joy because God had turned disbelief into delight.
Romans 4:18 says, “Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, ‘That’s how many descendants you will have!’” (NLT) You may not feel like you have a reason to hope right now. You may feel like Sarah did at first and laugh in disbelief because there is no hope according to the facts. Yet put your hope in God. Choose to believe His word over the facts. Like Abraham, we must worship rather than worry. We must choose the promise over the probability. We must let God’s voice speak louder in our life. This kind of nitty gritty faith isn’t easy, but it is the bedrock of where we can have hope even when there’s no hope. It’s where we can stand on God’s promises when faith and facts collide.
Photo by Jannis Nöbauer on Unsplash
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 