The Testing of Your Faith
Genesis 22:1-18
By Pastor John Eich Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Alma, MI
Trust. If you were to pull out a one dollar bill right now, on the back it would say: “In God We Trust.” Have you ever looked at it and wondered just how much we as Americans really do trust in God When horrendous evil happens, you can hear many voices.
But how about closer to home. When sudden illness strikes, do you trust God? When your teenager strays far away from God, do you trust God? When your IRA tanks, your home is robbed, you get laid off, do you trust God? When your life takes an inexplicable turn south and God seems far off, do you trust him? Not just pray to him but trust him. Trust would be seen in a calm reliance, a willingness to put it in his hands, a quiet confidence in his promise that it will turn out alright.
These are tough questions that we all need to answer. And, if we are completely honest with ourselves, all of us would have to admit that we don’t trust God, at least not the way we should. Adam and Eve didn’t trust God enough to obey him in Eden. And we know what happens from that point on. Since the fall we have continued to struggle, and we constantly doubt our Creator.
That’s what makes today’s Old Testament lesson so amazing. Abraham was tested by God. He has already lost one son. When God had promised to make Abram the ancestor of a great nation Abraham believed. But he and his wife Sarah had no children. So Sarah told him to have sexual relations with her servant, Hagar. Well, Hagar conceived and gave birth to Ishmael. Sarah had become jealous of Hagar and wanted her, and Ishmael gone. The previous chapter says that Abraham was very displeased, but God came to him and told him to listen to Sarah. Then God told Abraham that it was through Isaac that his offspring would be named. Upon hearing God’s word, Abraham rose early in the morning and sent Hagar and his eldest son, Ishmael into the desert. This had to have hurt Abraham tremendously to watch his son leave. For those who have suffered the loss of a loved one, either by death or the circumstances of this sinful world separating you from them – you know Abraham’s hurt all too well. Abraham trusted God enough to listen to him.
God then assured Abraham that the son that He promised would be born from Sarah who was 90 years old! His name would be called Isaac. And everything happened just as God had said. Isaac was born!
Now, just a few years later, God is telling Abraham to take his son, his only son Isaac, whom he loves, and offer him up as a burnt offering. It was bad enough that Abraham had to send his first-born son into the desert, but at least God promised that he would make a great nation out of him. Now, God wants Abraham to take the son of the Promise and sacrifice him. And no comfort is given to Abraham here like it was with Ishmael.
Was it too much for Abraham? Did he question God and refuse to do it? No!!! Our text says that Abraham, “rose early in the morning,” got everything ready and set off. Nowhere in Scripture does it say that Abraham hesitated in the least.
This wasn’t a short journey. It’s not like Abraham heard the voice of God, woke up, took out a knife and killed Isaac before he had time to think it through. He had three days to think about what he had to do. Three days to walk with Issac holding his hand, watching him play, listening to his plans for when he grew up. Three days to convince himself that maybe God didn’t really mean what he said. Three days to put his own reason above the word of God. But he chose to trust God instead.
Think about it. God told Abraham that the promise would come directly through Isaac. Now he’s telling Abraham to kill Isaac. Reason would say that if Abraham killed Isaac he would be killing the promise.
When Isaac finally questioned his father why they didn’t bring a sacrifice, Abraham replied “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” The book of Hebrews says, “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ He considered that God was able even to raise from the dead, from which figuratively, speaking, he did receive him back.” Now that is an amazing faith!
God promised “Issac would be the start of many descendants” and now “God said offer Issac.” God can’t and won’t break his first promise so somehow, he will achieve it. So he must be planning to resurrect Issac.
So Abraham bound Isaac and laid him on the wood. He had the knife out and was starting to sacrifice his beloved son when the Angel of the Lord
stopped him and told him not to do it. And then the Lord provided a ram as a substitute for Isaac.
Can you imagine yourself in either Abraham’s place, or even Isaac’s? Personally, I’m glad that was Abraham’s and Issac’s test and not mine. I’m not sure how I would have done. How about you?
Abraham wasn’t perfect, was he? He was a sinner just like you and me. He made mistakes. He doubted at times. He lied at times. But Abraham also trusted in God. When he sinned, he repented and turned back to God – and God forgave them.
Abraham was given a substitute, a ram, to sacrifice instead of Isaac. All of this points directly to Jesus and the cross. Jesus is our substitute. He took our sins upon himself and was offered up once for all the sins of the whole world. It was his blood that was spilled. By his wounds we are healed.
Instead of trusting in God, do you trust in the strength of youth. We as a culture spend billions to preserve it. All in vain, for no matter how hard we strive to maintain the vitality of our youth, we all eventually succumb to old age, frailty, and death. When the economy tanks it is popular to trust a political party to legislate us back into affluence. That doesn’t work very well, does it?
Instead shouldn’t we trust our God? Afterall, he promised “A”- “Your heavenly Father know you need these things” and so if “B” happens, shouldn’t we trust that God won’t break his promise but will fulfill his promise through “B?” Do we trust him like that?
Like a great conductor, He sees our lives laid out like a musical score. Nothing surprises Him. We, on the other hand, experience life like an audience gathered to hear the concert, one note at a time. Rather than worry about which note is next, we are called to trust the direction of the conductor.”
Do we always trust God? The answer is no. We are sinners and because of our sin, our natural instinct is to doubt. When we are faced with situations that don’t make sense, often times we let our own reason cloud our judgment rather than trusting in God’s Word. Abraham’s test teaches us “The LORD will provide.”
Our greatest need was to be rescued from our sin and death, eternal death. Every one of us, even the most righteous among us, is guilty as a sinner before God and is deserving of death. Every one of us, could be Isaac, bound fast in the guilt of our sins, laid on the altar, with the knife of God’s justice
ready to come down upon us. That is our helpless situation, according to the law. We are sinners, and sinners must die.
But God spared our lives by providing his own Son as that substitute sacrifice in our place. Like the ram caught in the thicket, like a lamb led to the slaughter, Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He takes our punishment. Bound by nails to the wood of the cross, bound even more by the cords of his love for his Father and love for us sinners, Jesus the Lamb of God dies in our place.
“The LORD will provide.” Yes, on Mount Calvary, the Lord provided the answer to your greatest need. For in the sacrifice of his Son, God has provided you with forgiveness for your sin. He has provided you with life in place of death, the life of Christ, now risen from the dead, victorious over the grave, who now lives forevermore.
“The LORD will provide.” God has provided you with the assurance of his love, knowing that, if he has provided for you in your greatest need, he will also be there for you in your every need. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”
So rethink your trials, troubles, and temptations. They don’t prove God has forsaken you. See as them paths to God’s blessings.
We really can't tell what our next trial will be or when it will happen to us. But at least we now know what we should do when it comes. When that happens keep your eyes fixed on the cross. Cling to the promises of your Savior. Trust in His will for you: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Amen.