3 ways to face the Future

Read Romans 4.

God made clear and unconditional promises to Abraham.  One of them involved innumerable descendants.  "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." (v.3)

Many years passed, and the couple remained childless.  What about their future?  What happened to the promises God made?  We all ask similar questions when we cannot see what God is doing and wonder what will happen in the future.  There are three typical ways people deal with their future.

1. Figuring.
Proper planning is not only important; it is a vital part of good stewardship.  But the Scripture reminds us that though we can make our plans, God may have other plans we cannot see yet.  Some will delay and even disobey the Lord because they cannot figure out how His will can work out.  Many rob God and rob themselves of blessings because they fail to tithe, for example, or move forward when God has clearly said, "Go."  Pregnancy with Abraham being 100 years of age and Sarah at 90 was an impossible situation by anyone's figuring.  But that did not change what God had said.

2. Fear
Each time Abraham failed in Genesis, it was due to fear.  He did not see how God could meet His needs, so he tried instead to do it his way.  But having a child through his servant Hagar would not fulfill the will of God.  It only made things worse.  Going our own way is one of the Bible's definitions of sin (Isaiah 53:6).

3. Faith
The good news is that even after his lapse in fear, Abraham "grew strong in his faith...fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised." (vv.20-21)

"Faith mighty faith the promise sees and looks to God alone.  Laughs at impossibilities and cries, 'It shall be done!'"-Charles Wesley

"When God gives vision, He will make pro-vision."-H. Beecher Hicks, Jr.

"What God starts, he finishes.  Where God guides, he provides.  And where God leads, he meets our needs.  But he's going to test you first, because there is no testimony without a test.  The question, then, is: Are you willing to trust God completely."-Rick Warren