Faith Over a Lifetime: Abraham's Messy Journey and God's Unwavering Faithfulness
In this powerful message from Crowd Church, Sue Uddin unpacks the surprising reality of Abraham's faith journey, revealing how God's commitment to us remains steadfast despite our stumbles and detours.
Timestamps
- 00:00:00 - Welcome to Crowd Church with Matt Edmundson & Anna Kettle
- 00:03:45 - Talk begins: Faith Over a Lifetime with Sue Uddin
- 00:12:36 - Abraham's faith journey: The ups and downs of following God
- 00:20:00 - The reality of faith: When we forget God's promises
- 00:26:19 - Why God calls Abraham "my friend" despite his failures
- 00:31:33 - Conversation Street: Is it luck or God answering prayer?
- 00:50:52 - When life turns against you: How to strengthen your faith
The Comfort of Abraham's Humanity
We often imagine biblical heroes as spiritual giants with unwavering faith, but Sue reveals the refreshingly human side of Abraham. Yes, he listened when God spoke at 75 years old, packed up his life, and followed divine instructions. But his CV also included moments of panic, fear, dishonesty, and questionable decision-making.
"This is where I get great comfort," Sue explained. "Faith over a lifetime is not sanitised, it's not some linear journey. We're not robots that just go 'believe, obey, trust, believe, obey, trust.' It's a relationship with God."
When famine struck the promised land, Abraham forgot God's promises and fled to Egypt in fear. Instead of trusting God with his safety, he lied about his wife Sarah being his sister, putting her at risk to save himself. Later, when God's promise of descendants seemed delayed, Abraham and Sarah decided to "help God out" with their own plan—creating consequences that echo throughout history.
Yet despite these failures, God never abandoned Abraham. In Isaiah, we find God still referring to Abraham as "my friend" and promising, "I will not throw you away."
God's Provision in the Details
During Conversation Street, the team shared beautiful examples of God's provision in seemingly small moments—finding bargains in M&S when money was tight, a stranger offering to pay for groceries, and neighbours appearing just when needed.
"I just felt like, God, you, God of the universe, creator of heaven and earth. I cannot believe that you provided that little detail for me here in Liverpool," Sue recalled.
These stories sparked discussion about whether such moments are "just good luck" or divine provision. The consensus? When you've walked with God long enough, you begin to recognise patterns of His faithfulness that go far beyond coincidence.
As Matt shared: "I walked out of my house and there on the wall outside my house was a pack of Duracell batteries... That's how I remember picking the batteries up and went 'Awesome.' You could say that was good luck, but actually I think it's just more fun to give glory on things like that." (Full story in the podcast).
When Life Turns Against You
Perhaps the most powerful moment came when discussing how to maintain faith when life seems to be falling apart. Anna emphasised the importance of lament—being honest with God about our pain and frustration before choosing to trust Him anyway.
"David didn't hold back in the Bible. He was like, 'Oh Lord, all my enemies are against me.' It's proper full-on. Like, 'Why are you doing this to me?' It's quite melodramatic... I like that. I like the honesty with God."
Sue added: "When everything literally is falling around you... I just had this moment where I just went, 'Okay, at the end of the day, God, it's me and you, and I've got a choice. I can either choose to pursue you somehow in this, even if it's in a very messy way, or I can just turn away.'"
Faith for the Long Haul
As Matt pointed out, we often interpret our spiritual journey by what happened today or yesterday. But faith is meant to be viewed through a lifetime lens—not the short-term metrics our society values.
Abraham didn't live to see all God's promises fulfilled. Hebrews tells us that "not one of these people received all that God had promised them"—yet they continued believing, understanding they were part of a story much bigger than themselves.
This is the invitation for all of us—to see our faith not as a performance to be perfected, but as a relationship to be nurtured through all of life's seasons. To remember that God is working on a timeline that extends far beyond our limited perspective. And to trust that the God who never gave up on Abraham won't give up on us either.
For more information about Crowd Church, our upcoming services, and resources to help you on your faith journey, visit our website.
https://crowd.church/talks/why-god-never-gave-up-on-abraham-and-wont-give-up-on-you
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**Keywords**: Abraham's faith journey, God's faithfulness, messy faith, spiritual struggles, trusting God through hardship, Abraham's mistakes, Liverpool church, Crowd Church, Christian teaching, faith over a lifetime, biblical heroes, divine provision, everyday miracles, Christian community, spiritual growth, Bible teaching
