In Romans 3, Paul finally sets forth the Gospel (after telling us how much we need it in Romans 1 and 2). He speaks of redemption, because on the cross God bought us back from satan’s ownership. He talks about propitiation, the satisfying of God’s anger. For those who know the power of the cross, God is not the frowning black robed figure with gnarly hands grasping for thunderbolts to throw at targeted sinners; He is the smiling, dancing God described in Zephaniah 3:17, whose hands are opened wide to embrace his children, The cross is the mercy seat, where the enthroned God comes down in grace to meet the hand raised up in the faith which God himself has supplied (Eph.2:8). The overwhelming, incomprehensible truth is that somehow, God has forgiven those who cling to the cross, those who forsake performance religion and accept a relationship with a loving heavenly Father. These rather complicated ideas can be simplified with an example.
In Romans chapter 4, we meet Abraham, the discoverer of faith. Before him, people tried to please God by their performance; some unsuccessfully, like Adam, others triumphantly, like Noah. But Abraham had to forsake performance and rely completely on God’s goodness. He is the Father of the Faithful. “Abraham believed God, and faith was credited to him as righteousness.”
Paul is quoting Genesis 15:6, the night when God invited Abraham to step outside and count the stars. On that clear night in the desert, 4,000 stars might be visible to the naked eye. As Abraham enjoyed that awesome spectacle, he heard God’s even more awesome promise: “so shall your descendants be.”
Paul reminds us that at this time, Abraham was about 100 years old, married to a 90 year old woman who had never been able to bear children. “Yet with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able to perform ” He believed that God could and would do what Abraham could not.
God specializes in impossibilities: the virgin womb, the empty tomb, the 100 year old childless man that God has named “Abraham”, the father of a multitude. Sometimes we say that God will not give us a burden we cannot handle. The truth is that God will give us burdens we can’t handle, but He will not give us a burden that HE can’t handle.
When it comes to our eternal future, as well as our daily walk with God, we can’t handle the burden ourselves. The faith of Abraham says we don’t have to. “What God has promised HE is able to perform.”