You believed He was a provider but to this day, you don’t have a baby.
You trusted His promise but up to now, you still didn’t get your promotion.
You prayed that things would get better, but things have gotten worse.
Abraham received his promise – Isaac. But he was going to face another test. In Genesis 22, God asked him to sacrifice his son on top of Mt. Moriah. There are 5 things I’d like to mention as lessons from this narrative.
1. Our faith is going to be tested through our obedience.
After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” – Genesis 22:1
Not very many love taking tests. Do you? I don’t. But tests reveal what we have learned.
There are tests that produce faith.
But there are tests that reveal faith.
When tests come, what does it reveal about you?
2. We can either reason on the basis of our circumstance or on the basis of God’s character.
Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” – Genesis 22:5
“I and the boy will come again to you.”
What a faith statement!
But did he know God’s plan- that God wasn’t going to really make him do it?
I don’t think so.
But Hebrews 11:19 gives us a clue to what his through process was.
“He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.”
Abraham wrestled but came to a conclusion the night before. He logically concluded that God cannot lie. He made a promise (that he will be a father of many nations) and He will not turn back from that promise.
So he did not reason on the basis of his current circumstance but on the basis of the character of God – that He is faithful to fulfill His promise.
3. The promise given is as good as the Promise Giver.
Genesis 22:7. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
When he resolved in his heart that God cannot lie and will not lie, he made this declaration: God will provide. He didn’t know how and he didn’t know when. But he was sure of it for some reason.
But since there is no one greater than God, He swore by His own authority and power. Genesis 22:16-17, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you.”
Because He is the ultimate authority and power, therefore, what He says, we can trust.
4. Obedience has to be immediate, persistent and ultimate.
Abraham woke up early.
He continued walking up the mountain with Isaac.
He drew the dagger when it was time.
His obedience was immediate, persistent and ultimate.
I love what John Calvin said, “We pay Him the highest honour, when, in affairs of perplexity, we nevertheless entirely acquiesce (yield) to his providence.”
5. God’s infinite provision is always greater than our finite problem.
Genesis 22:14. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
Yahweh Yireh or the Lord will provide is a title given to God by Abraham. It does not only mean God being the One who supplies. Yahweh Yireh also means “God will see to it.” He will see to it that His plans and purposes will prevail in our lives.
Will it always be in the way we desire Him to provide? Will it be according to our timing or His? Not really. But one thing is for sure. He will see to it that what He has planned will be accomplished.
In his 6 volume historical masterpiece “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, Edward Gibbon wrote in 1776 five major causes of the fall of the Great Roman Empire.