June 18 - Romans 4: Focused Response

[Abraham] trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own. (4:3) 

That famous promise God gave Abraham - that he and his children would possess the earth - was not given because of something Abraham did or would do. It was based on God's decision to put everything together for him, which Abraham then entered when he believed. (4:13)

We call Abraham "father" not because he got God's attention by living like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody. (4:17)

When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding not to live on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do. (4:18)

As simple as it sounds, Abraham believed God. That's it. Abraham was an imperfect man who trusted a perfect God, regardless of circumstances.

"The classical example of biblical faith is Abraham. 

"Abraham was alive to the activity of God in his life, and that aliveness was his faith. That heroic response Abraham made to God has thrown his image across all of history as an example of what it means to have faith. 

"But Abraham, as an example, shows us something else; namely, that faith isn't simple a question of response. It's more a matter of where that response will be focused. At least half of the marvel of Abraham's faith is that he picked his way through the pantheon of Babylonian, Canaanite, and Egyptian gods (he lived for considerable periods among all of them) and listened carefully and long enough to hear God's voice to speak his new word - and he chose to respond to that. 

"We face a pantheon of similar gods. Wall Street. Madison Avenue. Hollywood. Each calls to us for a response. To which voice will we listen? And how will we respond? Abraham shows us the way. He shows us not only what faith is but how to live it among the babel of voices that call to us in our day-to-day lives." Eugene Peterson, Conversations, pg. 1744

Challenging questions for me today. Even as a believer, I have choices to make.

Will I listen carefully and long enough to hear God's voice? Or will the babel of voices in my daily life consume my thoughts and drive my activities?

To which voice will I listen? To the One who promises that He loves me and knows me and is in control of all things? Or to the one who encourages me to fear and to worry and to doubt God's goodness?

How will I respond? Like Abraham who trusted God? Or out of fear will I pretend like I'm trusting God yet worry and scheme and plan in my mind, trying to make sure things turn out my way?

"Abraham was declared fit before God by trusting God to set him right." But it's not just Abraham; it's also us! The same thing gets said about us when we embrace and believe the One who brought Jesus to life when the conditions were equally hopeless. (4:25)