Genesis 22:9-12 - Faith for the impossible
Scripture:
Genesis 22:9-12
9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him;
and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood,
and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top
of the wood.
10 Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to
slay his son.
11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and
said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."
12 He said, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad,
and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God,
since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from
Me."
NASU
Thoughts:
This is the famous testing of Abraham over his son,
Isaac. This account has received much attention from
within and without the Christian community. What an
outlandish request the Lord made of Abraham, to sacrifice
his only son! We know that human sacrifice was never a
desire of God in this test, but Abraham did not know this
until this point.
This test is greater than it appears on the surface,
however. Isaac was not only Abraham's son, even his only
son. Isaac was Abraham's only heir and represented the
legacy of his life. He was the fulfillment of God's plan
for Abraham. In essence, God is asking Abraham, "do you
trust Me enough, to give away all that you've worked for,
all that you've lived for, all that matters to you?"
Abraham, to the amazement of the whole world, answers
"yes."
Oh for faith like Abraham exhibits here! He was just a
man and had many failures like us, but in this instance,
he hits a home run in trusting God in the face of the
impossible.
Prayer:
Lord, bless me with faith to believe You. My challenges
tend to be so much less than Abraham faced here, yet I
find trusting You difficult. Help me in my weakness. I
want to trust in You!
Amen