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!” And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb.

God had made a promise to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations and Abraham believed God. Abraham was a man of faith. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” Although there was no earthly reason to believe that God’s promise would come to pass, Abraham believed God anyway.

Abraham is one of the heroes of faith listed in Hebrews 11. Like the other heroes listed there, he serves as a model and inspiration for our faith. God still speaks to His people through the Bible, through an inner witness of the Spirit, through other people, and circumstances

One of the things we can learn from Abraham’s story is that the promise will not always look like it is going to come to pass. In Abraham’s case, his body and Sarah’s body were as good as dead. So likewise, there will be times when what we believe God has promised will not look like it is happening. These are times of testing, temptations to doubt God. Satan uses these times to try and get us to disobey God by giving up our pursuit of the goal.

When these attacks of the enemy come to us, we should follow the example of Abraham’s persistent faith. However, we do have an advantage that Abraham didn’t have: the testimony of Scripture and the history of Christendom. We are blessed to have records of God’s faithfulness to His people through the ages. In light of this testimony, we should ignore the circumstances that allow doubt and unbelief into our hearts and put our trust in the God “who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think,” (Ephesians 3:20).