Do I believe in the God of the Bible? Yes.
Do I believe He is the one-and-only true God? Yes.
Do I take God at His word? Hmmm... I'd like to think I do, however my thoughts and actions often portray that I don't. I want to, but sometimes I struggle to believe God's promises.
And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” Mark 9:23-24
I'm nothing like Abraham. The book of Genesis tells the amazing story of a man who was told by God to get up and move his whole family. God didn't tell him where to go - He just told him to get moving. And Abraham (then named Abram) did. God also told Abraham to take his son, Isaac, and sacrifice him... the son Abraham had hoped and prayed for and finally got in his old age - his beloved son. Without questioning, Abraham prepared to do so (an incredible story with an even more incredible ending... click here to read it).
Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Galatians 3:6
God has told me to travel a certain path and, unlike Abraham, I have kicked and screamed and questioned God the whole way. I have begged and bargained with God to "leave my son out of it". (Trust me, I am not proud of some of the things I have thought and said to God.) But God has been patient with me. He wants me to believe. He aches for me to believe. He created me to believe.
But it is up to me. I must choose to believe.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son. Hebrews 11:8-12, 17
I too, Karen, have kicked and screamed over the lot God has given me in life. It's all a part of the process. But I will tell you this: eventually you reach a point where you realize that you're not going to get the answers you want--at least not in this life. Simultaneously, you also believe in the depths of your soul that God is good and will work all things out for YOUR good. And that belief has the capacity to carry you through the darkest days.
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