Obedience is Evidence of Faith

Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac

when he was eight days old,

as God had commanded him.

Genesis 21:4

Abraham and Sarah now have their promised son. Abraham is one hundred years old, and Sarah ninety years old. God showed Himself faithful. He showed His glory, His power, and His sovereignty over life. At the appointed time, Sarah conceived and bore Isaac (Genesis 21:2).

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven.” God had appointed the time of birth of this promised son just as He appointed the time of birth of His promised Son. “So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks” (Daniel 9:25). The birth of the Christ has never been hidden. God revealed His coming in the Hebrew Bible. His appointed time had been recorded in the Scriptures for any who would hear and believe.

How long the wait must have seemed. Along the way, Abraham and Sarah had tried on their own— in their own human strength and wisdom—to bring about this promised son. Likewise, man has been trying in his own human strength and wisdom to bring about the promised seed of Genesis 3:15. Man knows that he is broken. He also knows that there is more to life than what we presently see. We just have to look through the history of mankind to see this revealed.

Religion is man’s attempt to get to God. All around the globe peoples, tribes, and nations have formed their own religions and designed their own gods, trying in their own strength and wisdom to fix their hearts and the hearts of their fellow man; trying through the worship of gods that they formed with their own hands and imaginations to get to that place of approval and peace that they feel is out there somewhere. The promise, however, would not come through any ability of man, but through the word of God.

In his life, Abraham worshiped God through his obedience to the word of God. Abraham and Sarah worshiped God in giving Him the glory for the birth of their son Isaac. Abraham was a man who practiced immediate obedience to the commands of God. He was not perfect, and he made mistakes along the way; but when God said go, he went. He did not delay in his obedience. He did not pick and choose which commands were the important ones and follow as he saw fit. He acted when the command was given, with full devotion to the best of his faith.

Our obedience is evidence of our faith. Our obedience to the Word of God is an act of worship. Let us spend today in worship, and may we give God the glory for the birth of the promised Son, Jesus Christ.

Oh Father,

Total, immediate, cheerful obedience—this is what You desire. Your commands are not given lightly, nor are they to be taken lightly. Your commands are not burdensome. They are not to be ignored, and our obedience to them is not to be delayed. You are God Almighty. You desire and require our best. Oh Father, that I might honor You with my best, my total commitment, recklessly abandoned to You alone. Oh Father, Your Word is good, and I will obey because I love You and I trust You.

My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,

Amen