BEYOND THE FACTS OF LIFE 

By Hannah Etsebeth 

And he [Abram] believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. Genesis 15:6

Facts have a way of challenging and sometimes stunting our faith: a diagnosis, a loss, a heartbreak, a judgment. For Abram and his wife, Sarai, it was the fact that they were childless, and there was no possibility that was going to change anytime soon. They were nearing 100 years old—well beyond childbearing years—and Abram knew that when he died, his heir would not be his own son. Those were simply the facts, and no one would dispute them. 

Yet, God often has a way of offering supernatural responses to natural facts. In this situation, Abram and Sarai had been praying for decades, and God responded by saying, “A son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 

In a moment everything changed. A supernatural promise had been given. Even though the facts of their lives seemed to contradict God’s promise, Abram “believed in the Lord,” and as a result, God credited Abram with righteousness—right-standing with God. This is the first time the term “righteousness” shows up in the Bible, and the situation surrounding its mention gives us a good look at how we can be righteous as well. 

Think about it this way: when sin entered mankind, everyone’s spiritual “account” suddenly became full of sin. It’s a fact. We can’t get rid of it on our own, and we can’t be right with God while it lurks in our account. But in this story, we see God give Abram a seemingly impossible promise. Abram says, “Alright, God, I believe you,” and God credits Abram’s account with righteousness. God made a withdrawal of all the sin and deposited right-standing. We learn here that Abram’s belief was the catalyst for this transaction, and that is still the case today. God sent His only Son, Jesus, to earth so that He would become a sacrifice that would withdraw all the sin from everyone’s account. But, in order to receive our deposit of right-standing, we need to believe in Him. 

In case you’re wondering, God did follow through on His promise to Abram and Sarai—they conceived and gave birth to their son Isaac and a nation was born. Abram became Abraham, meaning "the father of a multitude," and Sarai became Sarah, meaning "princess." Many of God’s promises were fulfilled in their lifetime, and many other promises were fulfilled in generations after. God is faithful, and Abram chose to believe it. 

So now it’s your turn. Are you going to believe the facts of the world around you, or will you believe in Him who promised you more? When we turn our backs on the sin of doubt and believe His promises, we receive far more than the promise itself—we become right with God. 

Prayer

Jesus, I choose to believe You today. I choose to believe Your word over the noise, accusations, and “facts” of the world around me. I place my faith in You today. I look forward to the day when I see Your promises to me fulfilled. Deposit righteousness in my account so that I can be in right-standing with You. In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

Memory Verse

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16–17 (NIV)