God made great promises to Abraham, but for 25 years, Abraham only had God's word that the promises would come to pass. It was not easy to believe what God had promised, but believing God's word is a trait of spiritual maturity. God put Abraham through difficult circumstances to teach him to trust God's word above everything he could see, feel, or understand.

Abraham and Sarah did not always fully trust God's word. During the 25 years they waited for God to fulfill his promises, they wavered and even attempted to help God along. Sarah suggested that Abraham have a son by her handmaid, Hagar. But that was not God's plan.

When God promised that Sarah would give birth to a son, both Abraham and Sarah were well past the childbearing years. They both chose to believe God rather than what their experience taught them.

Once their son, Isaac, was born, Abraham continued to believe God's word. He followed God's instructions to sacrifice Isaac because he believed God's promise that this son would be the father of a great nation. God's instructions were against every natural emotion and thought. It even seemed contrary to God's earlier promises. Yet Abraham trusted God instead of his own thinking. The writer to the Hebrews (11:19) tells us that he reasoned that God would raise Isaac from the dead. Abraham was a top student in God's school of faith. He learned God's lesson, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5).

We too are in the school of faith. God gives us his Word and then guides us through many different and difficult situations so we can learn to trust his Word above our circumstances. The apostle Paul was like a New Testament Abraham. He served God faithfully, but time and again God put him in strange and life-threatening situations. Often he was sick or persecuted, but he never lost faith in God's promises. In the reading that follows, Paul teaches us to live by faith in God's Word and not by sight.

Romans 8:37-39
37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Points to ponder
1. Name some terrible circumstance that Paul passed through in his life. You can get help from 2 Corinthians 11:24-27 and Acts 9–28.

Answer: As soon as Paul began preaching Christ, there was a plot to take his life. Later he was stoned. He was shipwrecked, bit by a viper, and abandoned by friends to name a few. He was also lied about and insulted.

2. What does it mean to be more than a conqueror?