Abraham was a hero of faith because he learned that if God says so, you can believe it.

You pick up the phone, and the voice on the other end says, "Congratulations, you just won a free trip to the Bahamas." But you soon discover that your "free" trip is anything but free.

We have learned that we can't always trust what people say. How horrible it would be if we couldn't believe what God says? How horrible it would be to discover that his gift wasn't free, that forgiveness wasn't complete, that the guarantee on salvation had run out.

ABRAHAM BELIEVED THE UNBELIEVABLE

In Genesis 12:1–25:11, we have the story of Abraham's life. It is summarized in Hebrews 11:8-19. God told Abraham to move from his homeland to Canaan. He promised he would give Abraham and his descendants that land. That's fine, but Canaan was already occupied by people, and Abraham's wife, Sarah, wasn't able to have children. But Abraham believed God and went.

God told Abraham that one of his descendants would be the Savior of the world. Okay, but Sarah was well beyond childbearing years. So was Abraham. God made Abraham wait another 25 years to fulfill that promise. Abraham would struggle with it, but still he believed God.

When God finally did give him a son, Isaac, God told Abraham to take the son and sacrifice him on a mountaintop. Abraham obeyed even though God told him that the special offspring—the Savior—would come through Isaac.

I guess it is easier to believe what God says when it is believable. He says that he provides daily bread, and most of us get plenty. He says he watches over us. That is easy to believe especially when nothing bad is happening to us. He says he created the world. Where else would it come from? It is easier to believe the believable, but what about the unbelievable?

God told Abraham to take Isaac, the ancestor to the Savior of the world, and kill him. How could that be possible? But Abraham believed that somehow what God said would happen even though Abraham did not know how. That is what makes Abraham a hero of faith. "By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, 'It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned' " (Hebrews 11:17).

GOD MAKES THE "IMPOSSIBLE" POSSIBLE