Now THAT’s Faith!

In Genesis 22 we have the account of Abraham offering his only son, Isaac, as a human sacrifice. God had told him to do this and Abraham willingly followed God’s voice. Abraham had waited 25 years for Isaac to be born and yet he was willing to do this. In conversation with Isaac before the sacrifice, Abraham told Isaac that “God would provide a lamb for the sacrifice”. As we continue to read the chapter we see that God stopped Abraham from harming Isaac and did provide a ram for the offering. Abraham had demonstrated his total allegiance to God by his willingness to obey God, by faith. (by the way, if your teenage son continues to come home late, after curfew, and you “think” you hear God telling you to do something similar…He’s not!)

Then we read these words in chapter 22: 15 Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— 17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” Why was God so excited about what Abraham had done? I believe it was because Abraham’s actions demonstrated a complete and total faith in God, His character and His plan. God had told Abraham that He was going to use Isaac as the promised son. And then God told Abraham to kill Isaac. Hmmm…those seem to be mutually exclusive don’t they? To us they do but not to God. God knew what His plan was going to be.

In our lives I think we often face similar situations. God says that He loves us and yet we get cancer. God says that He will provide for us and yet we lose our job. God hasn’t lost control. Often, these circumstances are tests for us to develop and strengthen our faith in God. Will we trust that God will keep His promises, even when the circumstances seem to indicate something else?  I encourage you to continue to trust in God. He has not forgotten you. He has not gone back on His word. In His time, He will unfold the promises He has given you and you won’t be disappointed.