"By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore." Hebrews 11:8-12

How would you like to move out of your house right now and go live in a tent? Not likely? What if you knew that in the meantime someone was building you a brand new house--a house more luxurious than your current one? The idea sounds unbelievable to us, but Abraham, our own forefather in the faith, did something similar.

Abraham is one of the larger figures in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11. His faith takes up more space in the Hall of Faith than any other single figure. For our purposes we will divide the Abraham exhibit into smaller sections. Today's section reminds us that faith comes before God's promises are fulfilled.

That may sound so self-evident, but it was no simple matter for Abraham to act on God's promises which he had only by faith. Abraham was from the land of Ur in Mesopotamia. One day God appeared to Abraham and told him to move away from his homeland and wander through the desert wilderness to a new land that God would show him. Not only did God promise Abraham a country of his own but also a great nation of descendants who would inhabit this land. God promised Abraham great blessings--blessings that may have sounded too great to be true. Perhaps to our ears the promises would have sounded too great to believe.

But by the grace of God this was no problem for Abraham. Abraham believed God's promises and he acted on them. The book of Genesis shows us no hesitation from Abraham. He packed up his tents and belongings and headed out across the desert just as God told him to. He even believed God's promise that he--a man of almost 100 years--would have a son of his own and eventually too many descendants to count. Abraham set a great example of faith for us because he didn't need to see God's promises fulfilled before he believed and acted on those promises.

Don't we try to do the opposite though? Often we would like to see God's promises kept before we believe them. When we have to make hard choices about our finances, we would like to see proof of God's promise to provide for us before we trust him to. When illness strikes or tragedy fills the news, we might believe God can make good come from it only if we can see the good with our own eyes. "I'll believe it when I see it" is the motto of the skeptic within us. But living that way is not living by faith. It's not the way Abraham lived, nor is it the way a child of God lives.

What can overcome our stubborn skepticism and give us a heart like Abraham's which trusts and acts on God's promises? The promises of God that gave Abraham faith in the first place. In fact we have an advantage that Abraham did not have. Abraham died hundreds of years before the land of Palestine was under the control of his people and he died thousands of years before the coming of the Savior whom God promised. And we have seen through Bible history how God kept his promise to Abraham to give him a son (Isaac) in whom all nations would be blessed. History shows us God's faithfulness in sending his Son Jesus to take our sins away and open heaven to us by his death and resurrection. God has an impressive track record of keeping the promises he makes.

We also have faith like Abraham when we think of what God has promised us and how God sacrificed his Son to ensure that promise. But we don't need to see God's promises fulfilled before we believe them. We can do as Abraham did and lift our eyes heavenward while we wait for God to keep his promise of a new land to us.