My single season lasted for over a decade, so through my twenties, this passage is one that I came back to often when I needed to have my hope renewed. Because Abraham waited 25 years to see the fulfillment of God’s promise to him - as the years passed and his and Sarah’s bodies aged beyond child bearing, Abraham had to choose to believe against every type of impossibility. So, that’s what we’re going to study today: how to believe when all your hope is gone. 

• What promise did God make to Abraham? 

• How and why does the Law of God not help us secure our inheritance of the world? (vs. 14-15)

• How can we say that the promise of inheriting the world comes to us through the imputed righteousness of God by faith, even though the Bible teaches that active, lived-out righteousness is required to obtain the inheritance? 

• Verses 14 and 15 indicate two possible futures: inheriting the world or inheriting wrath. 

  • What does it mean to inherit wrath? See Romans 1:18

  • What brings about inheritance of wrath? See John 3:36, Isaiah 26:21, Psalm 7:11.

  • What is an inheritance of the world? 

  • Why should we look forward to inheriting the world and seek it with all our heart?

• How did Paul describe God? (v. 17)

• What is hope? 

• What does it mean to believe against hope? (v. 18)

• Read Hebrews 11:1. What is the relationship between faith and hope?

• Where did Abraham get this strength to wait on God for so long? 

• Why can we be confident to wait on God to provide? (v. 21)

• What exactly did Abraham do that resulted in God crediting righteousness to him? If you need help answering this one, see these sermon notes by R. Newton. 

• Is there anything you’re waiting on God to provide or do in your life? How does what we learned today change how you wait on God? 

• Reflect on your own journey to faith, and your Christian life. How have you seen, in your own experience, that God is “the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not”? (v. 17)

Reflect & Respond

• What does this passage teach me about God?

• How does this change the way I live? 

Scripture to memorize

“Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.” -Romans 4:20-21

If you’re new here or missed a week, you can find prior weeks here:

• Week One

• Week Two

• Week Three

• Week Four

• Week Five

• Week Six

• Week Seven

• Week Eight

• Week Nine

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Yelena is the founder and editor in chief Tirzah. Yelena works as an attorney in tax and in her spare time, she is working on her first book for unmarried twenty-something women in extended waiting seasons and running Tirzah. She has a passion for pointing young women to Christ, and enjoys reading, writing, traveling, and spending time with her family.