Faith Is So... Faith

When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it.  Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.  And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice.  At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham!  Abraham!”  “Yes,” Abraham replied.  “Here I am!”  “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God.  You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.” [Genesis 22.9-12]

As inspiring as the story of Abraham's faith is, the idea of sacrificing his son is difficult to overcome.  However, I shall attempt to do so as I realize that the shock value of human sacrifice was what was necessary to test Abraham's faith.  That same shock value has had a ripple-effect throughout history testing the faith of countless myriads of people since Abraham's time.

Faith is so... faith.  There is no good explanation for faith except that a person who believes actually believes and obeys accordingly.  It is all just a mind-thing ...until a 'ram is found in the thicket.'

Was Abraham actually willing to kill his son?  It would appear so by his actions.  However, by Abraham's words, that he and Isaac would return after the sacrifice (spoken to the others traveling with them), and that God would provide the sacrifice animal (in answer to Isaac's question), it would appear Abraham had every confidence that, regardless of how it looked, God would provide some other option rather than Isaac for the sacrificial lamb.

I think most everyone who has ever read this story has come away from it shaking their heads negatively when considering whether their faith could match Abraham's given the same situation.  I know that I do not match Abraham's commitment!

The question that we might ask ourselves today is, "Do I even want the kind of faith Abraham had if it means being tested as Abraham was?"  It comes down to a matter of obedience.  But that also must be qualified as obedience to the voice of God which, unfortunately, most must concede, they (we) have a hard time distinguishing anyway.

It is a little easier to think we might obey if we actually felt sure it was God speaking to us in any given unique directive.  This realization carries great implication as Jesus would later say, "My sheep know my voice..."

The thing is, to hear uniquely from God, we must first hear generally from God.  Abraham had a track record of living in obedience to God's directions (seen mostly in his physical relocation at God's direction).  If we dare desire to hear unique instruction from God, we too must take seriously the general (albeit specific) instruction from God.  In the absence of unique direction, we today have the benefit of both general and specific instruction from God timelessly preserved and most accurately presented to us by the Bible.  In other words, we should not concern ourselves with unique direction from the LORD until we have become practiced at following His general and specific direction found in the Bible.  And, for most of us, that if a lifelong goal!

Father, I want to obey.  I cannot say at this time that I want my faith to be tested like Abraham's was, but I do want to please You with my faith.  I know that Abraham was obviously ready for the kind of testing he was given, and I also know that You know what kind of faith I am ready to be tested for.  Help me to rise to every faith occasion (starting with the Bible) that comes my way.