While Abraham always finds power in his faith in God, occasionally his firm, strong faith is also a weakness that nearly hurts innocent people such as his son, Isaac.
Abraham’s faith in God brings him strength when he is distressed over not having any children, and therefore, no heir. But God promises Abraham that he will have a son. “Look toward heaven, and count the stars, if you are able to count them. So shall your descendants be.” (15:5). Abraham had faith in God’s word even though having a child seemed impossible because of his old age. This faith gave Abraham power because he has newfound hope in what God said. Because Abraham believes God will let him have a son and he is forever faithful in God he eventually gets what he wanted- a son, Isaac.
Abraham’s faith in God also gives him strength when Sarah wants Hagar and Ishmael gone. Abraham doesn’t want to force his son to leave, so, not knowing what to do, he turns to God for the answer. “But God said to Abraham…whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you.” (21:12). Sending his son away was obviously a very hard thing to do for Abraham and without having faith in God's word, it would be very hard for him to do.
Abraham's faith also proved to be a weakness for him at times. Abraham serves as an example that having a faith where one never questions anything isn’t always a good thing. He almost killed Isaac and would have if he hadn’t been stopped. Even though Abraham wouldn’t have gotten anything from killing his son, he still wanted to go through with it because of his obsessive, non-questioning faith in God.
Whenever Abraham needed help and strength he could find it in his faith in God. Although it was also his weakness, Abraham’s faith was his greatest strength because it helped him to get through things that he couldn’t get through alone.