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I have plans, ya’ll, big plans, but sometimes I just sit those off to the side and do other things. For example, I planned to do a whole series on Faith Like…, I planned to have screensavers, worksheets, and more and then it didn’t happen. For the past few weeks Abraham keeps popping up here and there and won’t get off my mind though. Perhaps one day I’ll do all the fun things that I wanted to do, but for today, I’ll do what I normally do and just write.

There is much to say about the faith of Abraham and one day I’m sure I’ll talk about other parts, but today I want to share about Abraham and the sacrifice of Isaac. You can find the account here in Genesis 22. Even in this account there is much to be said but I’ll do my best not to write a thousand pages. As a quick recap for you, in Genesis 17:15-22 God promises a son to Abraham with his wife Sarah.

15 And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.
16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.
17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?
18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!
19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.
22 And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.

Pay close attention to verse 19 for a moment. God tells Abraham exactly who the covenant will be with and it won’t be with Ishmael. This will be with Isaac and his seed and Isaac will be born to Sarah. Fast forward to chapter 22. Hopefully you’ve taken a moment to read the verses, but if not here’s what’s happening in verse 2:  And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. Hold the phone! The son that God promised to Abraham, God is now telling Abraham to kill? Let’s not forget that Isaac has no children so exactly how does God plan to work that one out? You’ll have many people tell you that Abraham had the promise that Isaac would have children so he knew that God wouldn’t let him go through with the sacrifice. They’ll say besides the promise from God you see in Abraham in verse 5 say that I and the lad will go yonder and worship, it shows that again he knows he isn’t going to have to sacrifice his son. Worship has several definitions or meanings. While we often put it first the least of those definitions is singing with your hands lifted high on a Sunday morning. Worship is a lifestyle where you live a life of submission to God’s perfect will. When Abraham says he and Isaac are going to worship he isn’t talking about singing a hymn and calling it a day, He is saying that he and his house will following the perfect will of God. There is another passage that let’s me know Abraham doesn’t have any assurance that Isaac won’t be sacrificed, but it isn’t in Genesis. It’s over in Hebrews chapter 11.

17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
18 of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:
19 accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

We talk about the faith of many and we mention the faith of Abraham, but too often we miss the passage in Hebrews. Abraham had so much faith that he knew regardless of what happened on that mountain God was still keeping his promise, even if it meant raising his son from the dead. In and of itself that takes some serious faith, but let’s take that a little further, shall we? Up to this point do you know how many times the Bible has mentioned anyone being raised from the dead? None! That’s right, there is no record of anyone being raised from the dead at this point and yet Abraham said God I will do your perfect will, I will give up my only son even if it means that you will raise him later, I KNOW you will fulfill your promise, that’s faith. Abraham doesn’t always do everything right, but there are days he is spot on when it comes to His faith in God. We won’t even get into the faith of Isaac because can you imagine laying on an altar without putting up a fight?

Do you have a situation you’re facing that you don’t understand how God is going to resolve? Have faith. Do you look at the situation and see absolutely no way out? Have faith. Do you look and say there is no humanly possible way this will work? Have faith. When you’re in the place that no matter what you can’t fix it you are in the place God specializes! Look throughout the Old and New Testaments, over and over you’ll see miracles in situations that no human could solve.