They Simply Believed

I find there is a similarity between Abraham and the Apostle Paul.  I'm speaking of how both men, upon hearing from the Lord received what was told to them and simply believed it would come to pass because God said it.

In Romans 4:3 there are three words that explains Abraham's faith and what he did to hold on to that faith while waiting for the fulfillment of God's promise to him.  Now this might be a shock to you, but here's what it says, "Abraham believed God ..."

Let those three words be a break thru for you with your faith.  Do what he did.  Simply ... believe God ... by believing God's word.  That's all Abraham did.

God spoke to two old people and gave them a promise of a son.  Wow ... they were twenty years older than I am, and I don't plan on having any more children at my age, and I know the grandmother I'm married to certainly doesn't either.

God doesn't always work the way we think things should go.  I have wondered if He does things just to prove to us He can.  Not always, but many times God makes us wait.  In Abraham's case it was a few years.

Here's what simply believing God at His word did for Abraham.

Romans 4:19-21 ... "And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform."

Most of us have heard all the teaching on faith we can take.  "Strong in faith.  Great faith.  Oh ye of little faith."  I've heard it all, so have you.  I'm not even sure if "believing" and "faith" are really the same things.  It does say that Abraham … "was strong in faith."  It also says that he ... "believed God."
 
I don't want to talk just about our faith.  I want to speak about what faith does.  Faith ... believes. 

As I said, Abraham and Paul were alike, at least in one important way; they simply ... "believed the word of God" ...  spoken to them.  The Lord Himself came to Abraham; with Paul it would be an angel of God that brought the word.

Paul had been arrested by the Roman army at the request of the Jewish Sanhedrim and was charged with teaching a new illegal religion, profaning the Temple, and sedition offending Caesar ... charges that they could not sustain.  Paul is forced to appear bound in chains before the governing authorities; Felix, Festus, Agrippa and later Caesar.   

If the Romans had sent him to the Jewish courts for judgment, it would have been a death sentence for Paul.  But as a Roman citizen, Paul had the right to appeal before Caesar, so Festus says ... "unto Caesar thou shalt go" ... which brings us to Paul's fateful journey at sea. 

In Acts 27:1-44, Paul's faithful companion Luke, describes in detail the arduous adventure at sea that he and Paul experienced as they sailed to Italy, along with many other Roman prisoners.

Luke writes that the winds were contrary, blowing them off course.  At one port they had to change ships.  The contrary winds either wouldn't blow, and when they did, they blew up a tempestuous wind, turbulent and violent, most likely one of the Mediterranean hurricanes well known for that area. 

Luke, writing in the first person says in Acts 27:15 ... "And when the ship was caught, (by the hurricane) and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive."   
   
Believing the storm was going to sink the vessel, the crew decided the only thing left to do was to lighten the ship by tossing the freight overboard into the sea during the second day of the storm.
 
The third day, with the storm continuing, Luke writes ... "we cast out with our hands the tackling of the ship."  They basically gutted the ship of everything that wasn't nailed down.

Next he says ... "And when neither sun nor stars were visible for many days and the tempest kept raging about us, all hope of our being saved was finally abandoned."

The men of the ship had given up ... they believed there was no hope; they and the ship would be lost at sea.  But Paul steps up and assures them to take heart ...

In Acts 27:22-25, Luke records Paul's words of encouragement to all those on board ...

"I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of life among you, but of the ship.  For there stood by me this night, the angel of God, whose I am, and who I serve, saying, 'Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.'  Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me."

How was Paul like old Abraham?  This is written of Abraham ... "Being fully persuaded that, what God had promised, He was able also to perform."

Now compare what was written about Paul's confession ... "I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me."
     
Luke, being a historian, gives his personal account of how God saved the lives of all two hundred and seventy-six souls on board of this ill fated voyage, of which he was one.

Yes, the ship did run aground and was broken up on an island now called Malta; but Luke closes this account in Acts 27:44 this way ... "And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land."

The promise made to Paul was kept, just like the one given to Abraham years before ... proving, whether on land or sea ... we are safe in God's power of protection, keeping His people from danger.

Abraham and Paul.  They simply believed.