He [Abraham] did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. (Romans 4:18-21, ESV)
All golfers have stories! Sharing stories with friends about a particular shot, a “heater,” or a major catastrophe is part and parcel of the game we love.
Long ago, in a land far, far away, I was playing a friendly match with my high school buddy, Doug. Doug was the middle son of three boys, all outstanding players.
Doug’s older brother would go to Alabama on a full-ride golf scholarship. Doug’s younger brother, in my opinion, had the prettiest of the three swings.
I digress. Now, back to the match with Doug. We were standing on the sixth tee box. Highway 51 ran parallel to number six. Doug had honors. He snapped-hooked it out of bounds. Seemingly, all was lost.
Incomprehensibly, his ball hit the side of a horse trailer headed in the opposite direction. As Providence would have it, his ball bounced back into the fairway.
Doug launched a seven or eight iron from the fairway onto a narrow green and made the putt for a birdie. Moments before, all had seemed lost. All these many years later, I still hear the guffaws.
If you are old enough to remember watching Seve Ballesteros play, you will know that when all hope was lost, he would find a way to turn a disaster into a “miracle” birdie or par. Hitting a driver into the gorse or a parking lot would unravel most players, but not this magician!
If you live inside the larger story of the world portrayed in Scripture (i.e., a biblical worldview), you can easily imagine the Lord intervening in our daily lives. In short, “nothing is impossible with God.”
The God revealed in Scripture is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. There are no circumstances outside his presence, wisdom, and power. In short, he can turn anything around.
If you live your life in the narrow confines of a secular worldview (i.e., no God) where all is determined by various physical factors, then whatever we find ourselves up against is a matter of ‘chance’ or impersonal ‘fate.’
When we look at Abraham’s life, “the father of faith,” we see a man greatly challenged by many of life’s circumstances. God had promised to give him a child. The problems were these: Abraham was over a hundred years old, and his wife, Sarah, was barren. As we say, “Other than that, all was good.”
What did he do? Did he wring his hands in worry? Did he crawl into a corner and whine? Did he play the victim card? Nope! Scripture is clear—He did not waver in unbelief; “…he grew strong in faith fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.” (Romans 4: 18-21).
Abraham, in hope against hope, knew that God had promised that he and Sarah would have a son and that a nation would be born from that son. Provisionally, Isaac was born, and Israel became a mighty nation.
But there is much more to the story. Abraham looked forward to a “greater Son,” Jesus, and from that “greater Son,” a people who would come from every nation, tribe, people, and tongue would fill the earth with Abraham-like faith (Galatians 3:16-29).
We who have bowed the knee to King Jesus (Psalm 2) are a part of this great nation (1 Peter 2:9-10). We are the fulfillment of a promise made long ago by God to a former idol worshipper, Abraham, who turned in trust to God, who makes and keeps all his promises.
Knowing God and his promises is essential in facing those moments when “all seems lost.”
Praise: Father! We praise you for making and keeping all your covenant promises!