One of the greatest conflicts you have in walking with God is the conflict with God Himself. How can He be so gracious to you and yet so contrary?
There is a principle you must see in God’s dealings with you.
Usually God’s Word comes in two forms: first, the precepts and the commandments of the Lord, the directives that He gives to your life; and second, His promises.
The Bible is full of the marvelous precepts of the Lord, the commandments that He gives you, the directives that require obedience in your heart; and if you obey those directives, you will make it impossible for His promises to be fulfilled on a human level.
A study of the Scriptures will make this truth explode in your heart, and you will realize that this is exactly where your struggle has been—to believe the promises of God and still obey the Lord, with faith instead of despair, when you know that your obedience is crossing out the promises.
We find an illustration of this principle in the life of Abraham. There is a reason why he is called the father of the faithful and the father of us all (Romans 4:16). The reason is that God tested him, probably as much as any man could be tested.
First He gave him a promise; then He brought an impossible delay, until on the human level it looked as if the promise could never come to pass.
Nevertheless, it did come to pass, and Isaac was born.
The second way that God tested Abraham, almost to a point of destruction, was by demanding obedience of him which again would cross out the promises of God. God commanded him to slay the boy for whom he had waited all those years (Genesis 22:2).
By delay and by His demands upon us, God constantly throws us into the position where we must have faith for the impossible.
When He gives us a promise, we wish that He would simply go ahead and fulfill it at once. It seems much more feasible then, before He starts maneuvering and working His delays.
He did the same thing with Joseph. As a young man Joseph had great visions and dreams, and it looked as if they would come true. Then his brothers’ jealousy prompted them to throw him into a pit and sell him as a slave to Egypt. In Egypt he was imprisoned in a dungeon and forgotten (Genesis 37; 39–40).
Every day that Joseph believed them, the promises became more difficult to be fulfilled. Psalm 105:19 tells us that until the Word of the Lord came to pass, the Word of the Lord tried Joseph. The Word of the Lord was trying him and dealing deeply with his heart.
Romans 4:16–20 teaches us about the kind of faith Abraham had. Beginning with verse 16, we read that the promise was not only to Abraham’s descendants according to the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, (as it is written, “A father of many nations have I made you”) in the sight of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. In hope against hope he believed.
You must understand that as you walk with God, He treats you the same way He treated Abraham. He gives you wonderful prophecies and promises; then He starts speaking to you about divine order and about the way the Body of Christ relates, communicates, and walks as one.
It all has a glow to it, but the Lord has a way of dealing with you until you also come to the place where it is in hope against hope that you believe.
In hope against hope Abraham believed, in order that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” And without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. Verses 18–19.
There is no question about it. Abraham knew that he was getting old. As a person grows old, he finds himself in a contest with futility and with the corruption that is taking place. Life becomes an eternal vigilance to counteract the aging process, by filling teeth and trying to keep hair from falling out.
If you look around at the world, you will notice that as people get older they start despairing; they start giving up their dreams. They may be going along as usual, when suddenly something comes over them and they decide to be old. They decide that old age has caught up with them, and then they start changing their whole program around.
However, when a man believes God and walks with Him, his life is like a repetition of the story of Abraham. Such a man finds that his hopes and his faith do not grow weak, even though he may have experienced many difficult years in serving God with faith.
Abraham did not grow weak in faith. He could contemplate the aging process; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God. Verse 20. His faith was not merely holding on to the promise; rather, the longer God delayed, the stronger his faith grew.
Every day his faith kept growing stronger and stronger until he began to shout the dawn into being. He knew that God could call into being things which did not even exist and give life to the dead. He had faith in God’s promises and in what God could do; but he also was determined that the longer God delayed the promise, the stronger his faith would become.
It is very important that you, like Abraham, do not become weak in faith. Although you believe and rejoice in the promises, as time passes do not let the circumstances and the way things appear on the natural level affect your faith. Delays give a superhuman, divine quality to your faith so that every day your faith becomes stronger.
The precepts and the commandments of God and His dealings concerning His promises comprised only the first part of God’s dealings with Abraham.
After years of delay, Isaac was born; and then God tested Abraham again.
How was Abraham tested in the second phase of God’s dealings?
In Hebrews 11:17–18 we read, By faith Abraham, when he was tested (notice that it says “tested”), offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son (God demanded something of Abraham that was contrary to the promise); it was he to whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” Isaac was the promise, yet God said, “Kill him; offer him up.”
At this time, human reasoning could have entered in saying, “Lord, You gave this promise; now You are demanding something that reverses it. By all reason and logic You are inconsistent, Lord. You are tormenting me with promises that are unattainable, with a life I cannot live, with a calling I cannot fulfill.”
It was in Isaac that Abraham’s descendants were to be called, and yet God began to deal with Abraham concerning that promise.
If you are praying for the firstfruits of resurrection life to be manifested today, you are asking something that is impossible by human reasoning.
You can be very realistic about your situation; nevertheless, you must believe in a different direction.
What was Abraham’s test?
God made a demand that went beyond human reason, a demand that would make the promise impossible by all human consideration.
Abraham was able to obey because he considered that God is able to raise men even from the dead; from which he also received him back as a type. Hebrews 11:19.
Like Abraham, your attitude toward the Lord must be this: “What You tell me to do, I will do; but I believe that You also will do what You have promised.
If my obedience is going to handicap You, that is Your problem. You still have to be God according to Your promises. Any demands that You make upon me cannot reverse the promises or the covenants that You have made for my life.”
James 2 teaches us more about faithful Abraham. In verse 21 we read, Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? The other passages we read declared what great faith Abraham had, and that is true. James is simply speaking about another aspect of it—the action stage.
Abraham’s first test was delay, delay, delay. You, too, may wonder why God could not have met you when you were very young and had more energy and strength and time to serve Him.
You may wonder why youth is wasted on people who are not ready to do anything with it. It would seem more reasonable for you to be born old and to grow young. That way, after you finally had gained some experience and ability and endowment from God, you would then be able to use it during the time of your youth. In effect, that is what the Kingdom is all about—renewing your strength.
When God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, Isaac did not yet have any descendants. If there had been a string of grandchildren walking up the hill to watch the old man make the sacrifice, Abraham could have felt confident that the promise would still be carried on with them.
God asked the wrong thing of Abraham at the wrong time. Isaac had a promise on his life that through his descendants all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 22:18); but God told Abraham to kill Isaac before he had even started to fulfill that promise, before he even had a wife.
In the dealings of God, you will never face anything greater than the delays of God or the demands of God.
It is a contest over the Word. Will you believe the Word? Everything revolves around the living Word that God speaks. If it is living, believe it!
If it is alive to you, if God has spoken to your heart, hold on to that Word. Even though you may have seen year after year pass in which nothing happened, you must believe the Word of the Lord. That is where your battle is.
Continuing the passage in James 2, we read, Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works. Verses 21–22a.
You must understand the fact that Abraham did not place his son on the altar reluctantly or in unbelief. He did it with faith. He determined to be a believer regardless of the circumstances. Nothing could set aside what God wanted.
God’s laws, the principles He sets in motion, and even the laws of the land tend to make His promises impossible; yet He keeps doing the impossible.
Faith was working with Abraham’s works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected. James 2:22b. Because he did what God told him to do, his faith was perfected.
Romans 4:19–20 tells us that in no way did Abraham’s faith grow weaker or diminish. Instead, it grew strong and increased. It grew stronger day by day. Every testing only served to strengthen his faith. Everything he did was a step of faith.
You do not know yet the positive force that you can turn loose by declaring every day: “Good morning, Father. I believe You today, and I am going to believe You more today than I did yesterday. I am going to stand on the promises and walk with You until the work is fulfilled that You have begun within my life.”
God’s promises do not work out to a happily-ever-after ending. When a young couple fall in love, it may seem that their marriage was destined in heaven; but the trouble is that it has to be lived on earth.
Many times it is difficult to see how all the wonderful promises of God will be fulfilled, because delays come and hindrances start working against you. If you grow weak in faith as you go along, that faith will die.
But if you hold on to that Word and wax strong in faith, you will see the promises fulfilled. Your faith will grow stronger under adversity.
God has ordained that fulfillment be in cooperation with the faith that you act upon.
Because of his works, Abraham’s faith was perfected, and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone. James 2:23–24. In no way did Abraham have the attitude, “I was just about ready to give up.” Neither can we talk that way or think that way. We have a standing before God in all of this.
Romans 5:1 tells us that we are justified by faith; and the prelude to it is Romans 4:9 which tells how Abraham believed God and was declared righteous. Just as he was justified by his faith, so we are justified by our faith.
It is easy to make a doctrine out of this truth if we read the Scriptures only superficially.
It is true that Abraham believed God and therefore God counted him righteous. However, there was something deeper behind it.
This kind of faith—the faith that is bound to the precepts and commandments of God and is driven by His promises—actually is the appropriation of righteousness! It is righteousness!
How can you apply this truth to yourself?
Perhaps you find in yourself certain propensities, certain habits or appetites which you do not know how to overcome.
You will do better if you ignore your problem and focus on the promises of God over you. You will overcome it much quicker if you start out to obey God and never let go of His promises. Somewhere along the line you will find that you have become righteous in His righteousness, and you will not even know how the problem left. You can overcome everything that was bred into you. You can also overcome every difficult circumstance and situation. There is nothing within or without you, in your heart or in your life, which cannot be overcome as it is swallowed up in the righteousness of God in that faithful, persevering obedience.
Do not have this attitude: “I am really discouraged and confused, but I think I had better keep trying. I will give the Lord another thirty days; but if my prayer is not answered by then, I may give up.” That is not persevering faith.
Keep crying to God to end the delay. However, be sure that you do it with the drive of a growing faith and not the impatience of unbelief.
Be sure that you understand what you are doing as you contend to reverse futility. Believe the Lord and love His Word. Thank Him for the way He booby-traps you in His dealings, for this enables you to do the impossible.
Psalm 119 must have been a difficult psalm to sing because it is so long. It has 176 verses, but the chorus, the keynote, is always the same: His Word, His precepts, His commandments.
Throughout the entire psalm the psalmist sang, “I have loved Your law. I delight in Your Word. I will hide Your Word in my heart.” He delighted in God’s Word with all of his heart.
You must have the same attitude, so that you not only follow the commands of the Lord, but you also smile through the tears. Nothing says that your way will be made easy, but you can declare the faith that you will have.
Are you looking for days of immunity?
That is fine, but you must also reach in for the faith to persevere. Remember Paul and Silas. When they preached the Word in Philippi, they were beaten and thrown into prison; but in spite of their circumstances, they prayed and sang praises to God on through the midnight hour (Acts 16:19–26). They were not pretending; their communion with God was real. Under the testings they determined that their faith would grow stronger.
In the book of Acts, every event which seemed unreasonable challenged the faith of the disciples. When they were threatened and warned not to speak any more in Jesus’ name, then they came together and sought God with great faith, rehearsing the promises of God, until the place was shaken and they were all filled with the Spirit of God (Acts 4:18–31).
When Herod had James killed with the sword and Peter imprisoned with the intent to kill him also, the disciples could have despaired, feeling that they were losing two of the inner three apostles, those upon whom the Church was to be launched. However, instead of despairing or reasoning it out, prayer was made without ceasing; and God opened the prison door so that Peter could walk out (Acts 12:1–11). Theirs was a determined faith.
Intercession that is born of desperation may or may not have a quality of faith. But watch what happens when the intercession sees the problem and says, “In spite of the problem, our faith is becoming violently great.
We are not doubting, nor are we filled with unbelief. Instead, we are determined to move on.” That kind of faith and intercession will result in changes that are almost frightening, but you must refuse to be fearful.
Instead, be set to go ahead and believe more, without fear. Be filled with faith for the promises of the destiny that you are to fulfill. Do not look upon your limitations. If you are strong in faith to believe the promises of God, you will be unlimited.