Romans 4:20,21

No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 
Romans 4:20,21 ESV

In these two verses, Paul details three things about Abraham that I believe every child of God should take to heart, as we examine ourselves in our desire to draw closer to God - and glorify Him.
1. Complete Trust
2. Gave Glory to God
3. Believed in God's Ability

No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God

Abraham had complete trust in God's faithfulness to His promises. We know that God cannot lie (Titus 1:2) and that God has guaranteed His faithfulness to us (1 Cor. 1:9, 1 Cor. 10:13, 2 Cor. 1:18)

It's so important that we spend time in meditation about the perfection and goodness of our Father. The fact that He has promised He will be faithful to us as His children, when He knows we will stumble, and the fact that every single one of His promises laid out in His Word are absolutely guaranteed as perfect Truth - these things should drive us to a life of praise and worship for His glory.

If we know these awesome things about God, how can we waiver? I think the issue at times is that we know in our heart these things are true, but we struggle to wrap our mind around them - and mentally we waiver.

The trust fall game...
In Children's Church last Sunday, we played the trust fall game. In this game, a group of people surrounded an individual, and the person in the middle was told to lock their knees and let themselves fall in different directions - trusting that their friends would not let them fall down. It was interesting to watch, only one person in the group of 5 or 6 that I was overseeing was actually able to completely let go and trust her friends to catch her. The others would start to lean, then catch themselves before they lost their balance...they wanted to trust their friends, and if you asked them they would say the did, but they couldn't quite get there mentally.

I think this is a great example of our relationship with God. How much do we trust Him? Are we at the point that we can let go even with our mind, without allowing our trust to waiver? Or do are we attached to things in this life that "help" us "trust" Him.

I believe that we as God's children have excelled in creating things that help us find comfort apart from trusting God completely. When the children in the trust fall game got to the point that they felt themselves losing control of their balance, they would tighten their muscles or move their feet to regain their balance - to maintain control. We do the same thing when we tell God that we trust Him, and then implement things in our lives that we cling to in order to maintain some "control" in our lives.

There are so many things that we do in and out of church that we can begin to lean on when our trust in God and His faithfulness to His promises waiver - they can be things such as various denominational traditions, church functions, church attendance, self sacrifice, outreach programs, even things like devotion times, prayer, bible study- the list truly is endless. Obviously not all these things are bad, and some when done for the right purpose are crucial to our Christian walk. However, we must be careful that they do not become a crutch.

We cannot allow empty actions to cause us to feel strong when our faith and trust in God's promises are weak.

When we strip away all of the earthly things that we do, how does our trust in God's promises hold up? That's where we need to spend time, being aware of our trust in God and allowing our minds to completely let go of everything we hold on to and "fall" into God's arms with complete trust!

but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God

This explains how Abraham was able to have such great trust in God's promise. He gave glory to God. How do we give glory to God? We trust Him, we have faith in Him, we love Him, we obey Him. All of these things bring us closer to God, and He glorifies Himself in us. 

It's such a great relationship - as we draw close to God, He draws close to us...as we put more trust in Him, the more He is glorified in our lives. As He is glorified in our lives, we experience amazing peace and blessings, and our faith is strengthened...this awesome process does not end! There is no end to how much our lives will glorify, there is no end to how strong our faith can grow. Our God is infinite, He knows no boundaries! 

The point we need to learn here is that all of this begins with the right goal - to glorify God with our lives. The deadliest poison to this process...complacency - without a doubt. 

Failure to draw close to God denies us the blessing of experiencing the rest of the process that builds on that relationship, yet even more tragic is the fact that we rob God of His deserved glory in our lives...

this should bring us to our knees, asking for forgiveness and a renewed desire to draw close to Him. He will provide! 

fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

This last line is so important in order for us to have total trust in God...just like Abraham we must be fully convinced that God is actually able to keep the promises He has made.

Do we believe our God is able to do anything He pleases? Does our God depend on anything or anyone? Is He all-knowing, all-powerful, sovereign and eternal? These are the answers we must know about our God if we are to be fully convinced of His ability. 

The Bible says that He is able to do what He pleases, He does not depend on anything or anyone - He has a determinant plan that we are all a part of, He is all-powerful, He is all-knowing, He is Sovereign over His entire creation, and He absolutely is eternal!

This should build in us complete faith in God's ability to make and keep any promise He desires. 

I would like to end the study on these two verses with a quote from a commentary I read: 

"Let us also remember, that the condition of us all is the same with that of Abraham. All things around us are in opposition to the promises of God: He promises immortality; we are surrounded with mortality and corruption: He declares that he counts us just; we are covered with sins: He testifies that he is propitious and kind to us; outward judgments threaten his wrath. What then is to be done? We must with closed eyes pass by ourselves and all things connected with us, that nothing may hinder or prevent us from believing that God is true."

I encourage us all to "close our eyes" to the doubt that Satan uses to hinder us, and fall into the arms of God!