Bible Reading: Genesis 22
Why does no one ever talk about the faith of Issac? All throughout the Bible are references to Abraham and the faith that it took to believe that God was going to provide a lamb for the burnt offering when He instructed Abraham to sacrifice Issac. However, have you ever thought about the amount of faith it took for Issac to stay on the altar after his father bound him and laid him there?
Think about it for a moment. What would your response be if you were in Isaac’s position? Would you have honestly believed that your earthly father was hearing from the Heavenly Father when he first started tying you up? I have to be honest, I would have questions, lots and lots of questions! The silence that Issac exemplified in Genesis 22 definitely would NOT have been my countenance.
For many believers, the ability to trust God independent of another human being is fairly simple, for the most part. It’s not difficult to believe that God will come through when there’s really no one else involved. But what do you do when you have to trust God when others are involved? When you have to believe God and someone else’s mind, will and emotions are a part of the equation. When you have to have faith that they will heed the voice of the Lord. What do you do?
We can look at Issac as an example. After he questioned Abraham in vs 7, we don’t see him say another thing. He was completely silent. How many times have you exemplified silent faith? How does one even successfully do that? By trusting God! He had to trust and believe that even if Abraham had it wrong, God was going to get it completely right. We don’t know what was going on with Issac internally, the Bible doesn’t share that. However, I could imagine for him to be silent at a time like this he HAD to be talking to God!
Obviously, none of us are being bound and laid on an altar as a sacrifice, naturally. However, you may feel that you are, or have in the past, experienced this spiritually. If this is the case, I encourage you to examine the life of Issac as an example of how to respond in the future.
Prayer: Dear God, Thank You for using me! There have been times in my life where I have not been physically bound but it sure feels like I was spiritually. I may not have had the same response as Issac did, but I thank You for trusting me enough to allow me to go through it. Father forgive me for not always respond the way I should. In the future please help me to remember that I have to put my faith in You and even though others are involved I can believe that you have everything under control. It is in the might name of Jesus I pray, Amen!