Faith and Stupid Things

But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, how can I be sure that I will actually possess it?” [Genesis 15.8]

These words were said by the man just previously counted righteous because of his faith! Sounds like he 'fell off the faith wagon' doesn't it?

As we read more about Abram (Abraham), we see that on more than one occasion he struggled with his faith. He struggled with the way God said He would do something. In fact, Abram found it comical that God said he and Sarai would have a son between themselves (because they were so old).

Yes, Abram had his own issues with faith, but still he was counted righteous because of his faith.

Abram's story may sound confusing and full of faithlessness, but the fact is, Abram kept having sex with Sarai even into their senior citizen years, which tells me he believed God! God had said he and Sarai would have a son, so they kept having sex. I suppose most of us never thought of having sex as an act of faith, but that is exactly what it was for Abram and Sarai.

But the weird thing is, Abram got the idea from Sarai that maybe it would be her servant, younger Hagar, that would be the mother of Abram's children. Where did they ever get that idea?

My point is this: Just because a Abram was counted righteous because of his faith, he still did some stupid things. He did some right things and he did some wrong things according to the Bible, but it doesn't seem to have affected his title, "righteous because of his faith."

If Abram (Abraham) did some stupid things (and there are more coming in the OYCB days ahead), then we should understand, as humans that it is quite possible that we will inadvertently do some stupid things we might look back on and say, "Why did I do that?"

I am not attempting to give license to sin here. But I am saying that because we are human, we will err. Sometimes we may think we are doing the right thing at the time, but only to find out it was a bad idea. I suppose it could be assumed that when Abram slept with Hagar, he really thought at that moment it was the right thing to do.

So again, my point is that God sees and works with our faith even through our stupid choices.

Father, I am glad You are gracious and kind toward us, Your creation. I don't ever want to presume upon Your goodness, but I am sure thankful You are so very good. Help me to live a life of faith without all the stupid mistakes.