Genesis Chapter 22 - Passing the Test

As God promised, a bouncing baby boy was born to Abraham and Sarah, and they named him Isaac. While Isaac was still a lad God put Abraham to the test by asking him to sacrifice his son up on Mount Moriah. I wonder what Isaac must have felt when his own father bound him up and placed him on the altar to be slaughtered and set on fire. As his dad raised the knife to complete the act, was Isaac quiet and submissive, trusting his father Abraham? Or was he screaming bloody murder, thinking ol’ dad had finally lost his mind?

Somehow I believe Isaac had experienced his father’s deep love and affection for him, and had observed Abraham’s steadfast faith in God. Therefore he could trust his father completely. Whatever was going to happen, it was part of God’s plan for his life. If God wanted to use him as a sacrifice, so be it.

In today’s world it is hard to fathom that kind of belief and trust. Must be Abraham had faith that God had another way of fulfilling His promise of many descendents if Isaac was taken from him. He had seen God’s faithfulness deliver him out of other impossible situations where his own life was at stake. He had also witnessed the deliverance of Lot and Lot’s daughters out of Sodom and Gomorra before the cities were destroyed. If God had a mind to do something, Abraham figured he might as well go along with it because it was going to happen regardless. It was safer to follow God’s instructions than to devise his own plan.....What? Wait a minute…you mean Abraham finally learned to completely trust God---no more little white lies to protect himself?

When God puts one to the test, and the test is failed, rest assured that person will have to take the test again. Abraham failed the test in Egypt when he lied about Sarah’s relationship to him. Years later in another location he had the opportunity to take the test again, but he lied to Abimelech also.

This time the test came in a different form…it involved not his beautiful wife, but his only son. This time he did not have to answer to a king, he answered God Himself. From his first response to the angel of the Lord, "Here I am" (vs. 1) to the second response of "Here I am" (vs. 11), Abraham was sincere…he was doing what God asked of him. Can’t you just see a wide grin spread across God’s face as He looks down on Abraham’s willingness to be radically obedient---"Oh, Abraham, my friend, I can trust you. You have shown your love to me by your act of obedience. You will surely be blessed with descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky." (vs. 17) WOW. Abraham finally passed the test, and what a reward he received!

Theologian Dennis Kinlaw said there was a conversation going on between another Father and Son on Mount Moriah that day. As they looked on at Abraham and Isaac, the Son said to the Father, "This isn’t the last time we will come to this place, is it Father?" "No," said the Father. The Son continued his questioning, "And the next time we come to this hill, it will be me that is sacrificed, right?" "Yes, Son," replied the Father. After a silent pause the Son speaks once more, "And Father, the next time we come to this mount, and I am the one who is placed on some crude pieces of wood formed into a cross, you will not say, "Stop! Do not lay a hand on him!" will you, Father?" The Father looked with deep compassion on His Son and said, "No, Son, there will be no stopping of the sacrifice when we come to Mount Calvary. For you see, Son, we cannot ask them to go to a place where we have not been."

The Father and the Son go before us to pave the way, to pay the price, to make the ultimate sacrifice---once for all. Am I willing to pass the test by my obedience to God’s leading in my life?

"I’ll say, Yes, Lord, Yes!

To your will and to your way.

Yes, Lord, Yes! I will trust you and obey.
When your Spirit speaks to me,

With my whole heart I’ll agree,

and my answer will be Yes, Lord, Yes!"

(Lynn Keesecker, Copyright 1983 Manna Music, Inc.)

Genesis Chapter 15 - Faith In God's Blueprint

"Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness." (vs. 6) This is one of the most important verses in the whole Bible. When someone tries to explain what faith is, it is this very verse that best explains it. Abram believed God, trusted Him, and took Him at His word. Because of that faith Abraham was made righteous, right in the eyes of God. He was forgiven and made an heir to God’s kingdom simply for believing God, even when things seemed impossible. For example, God promised him a son from Abram’s own aging body, and descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Also, through a vision God revealed to Abram the future captivity of Israel and what the final outcome would be. Abram was told he would not be part of the captivity, but that he would rest in peace. God was assuring Abram that the future of his family, the multitude of descendants he would have, was completely under God’s control.

It is hard to imagine having descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky when you are aging and do not have even one child. Abram thought perhaps God would bless him through his faithful servant, Eliezar, but that was not God’s plan. God’s plan is always more creative and expansive than we can even fathom. Remember, this is the same God who had created the whole universe and everything that exists. Is anything too hard for Him?

Am I willing to surrender my own agenda for the magnificent blueprint that God has for my life? My plans are so small, so insignificant compared to His. Oh, Lord, I pray that I may have patience to wait on your revelation of the pattern you are weaving in my life. May it be a tapestry of beauty that you are creating one stitch at a time!

"Something beautiful, something good;
All my confusion He understood.
All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife,
But He made something beautiful out of my life."
(Gloria and William Gaither, Copyright 1971)

Even though Abram was faithful in his service, God did not consider him righteous because of his hard work. Abram was made right in his relationship to God because of his simple belief in God, that He was ruler of all, and that He could and would do all that He promised. By the same token, all of our good works, or faithful attendance to church, or service to our community will not make us right with God. It is only when we put our absolute trust in God that we are accepted by Him.

In the study notes of The Wesley Bible (Thomas Nelson Publishers, Copyright 1990) we find these comments: God is righteous, which means He is always right in His actions, attitudes, and character. He is always consistent and fair. When we are made righteous, we are given God’s Spirit of holiness to help us to be right…to have integrity of character and to treat others right. When we surrender our wills to God, He guides us in the process of becoming more and more like Him. Above and beyond having a right relationship with God, I desire to be like Him. This journey through Genesis is teaching me so much about God, and about me. Thank you, Father, for leading us down this path so that we may know you better. Amen.