“…[W]hat he had promised he was able to perform” (NKJV)

When you read the fourth chapter of Romans and get to the part about Abraham, especially starting at verse 16, we discover why Abraham is “the father of us all.”  This means not just Jews by bloodline, but also believers by “faithline.”  God promised Abraham a son through Sarah, and they waited 25 very long trying years before God delivered Isaac to them.  During that time, including the episode with Hagar in trying to carry out God’s will man’s way, Abraham didn’t flinch in faith: “he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God” (v. 20), even when his body was giving out, reproductively speaking.  For twenty-five years he walked with God and learned from him in the ups and downs of a very routine life.  He learned to trust God, becoming indeed the father of us all.  And what was it that he learned more than anything else?  That what God “had promised, he was able to perform” (v. 21, NKJV).

How do we know that Abraham could trust God?  Look at the test God sent in Genesis 22: “Sacrifice [Isaac] there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about” (v. 2).  After 25 years of walking, learning, growing, there was no delay.  He was up “early the next morning” (v. 3) preparing to go.  He could so trust God that he told his servants, “We [Isaac and I] will worship and then we will come back to you” (v. 5).  A bit later he told Isaac, “God himself will provide the lam for the burnt offering, my son” (v. 8).  How could he be so sure, so confident?  25 years of walking with God will teach you a thing or two.  By this time, it had been 38 years for Abe. So throw in another thing or two.

God was able to perform what he promised.  He was able then, and he is able now.