Abraham believed God. What more powerful statement of faith can there be than those three simple words? Abraham believed God. Let's make a very important distinction about this statement. It doesn't say that Abraham believed in God. It says, "Abraham believed God," and because of his belief in what God said, Abraham was credited with righteousness. It wasn't just that Abraham believed "in God" as in the belief that "God exists," or that some superhuman being created the universe. Abraham believed what God had to say the way one friend believes another. That seems to be a very important consideration when it comes to the way God interacts with us.

One summer in the village of Crete, the drought of the past winter threatened the crops. The priest in the local church told his congregation: "…