Friday, November 11, 2011

Crises of faith

 
Hebrews 11:17

Reading the account of God testing Abraham’s faith, is one of the most frightening things a dad could read in the Bible.  I must insert, that I have some understanding about God’s attributes, He is all knowing, He is always present, and He is infinite, and men are foolish when they act as if they have total understanding of Him.  In fact, this past Sunday my pastor used this verse from Deuteronomy 29:29 in his sermon; “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”  For me the prophet Isaiah proclaimed a truth that has great comfort; “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.” (Isaiah 55:8)  From heavens view, or God’s, there was never any question of the outcome of Abraham’s faith, so why put him through such a horrible experience?

God did it for you and for me, and He did it for Abraham and Isaac and all that came after them.  The apostle Peter gives this account, beginning in 1Peter 1:10-12, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the suffering of Christ and the glories that would follow.  It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.  Even angels long to look into these things.”

For many this command from God to make a burnt offering of Isaac would have been the end of any relationship with God.  Abraham and Sarah had waited and waited, and waited, for this promised one, and God had promised that through Isaac His promised people would come.  What would you have done?  Real faith comes to the surface often in the middle of our worst nightmare, when our world is turned upside down.  That is when me must go back to the basic belief that God is all knowing, that He is not like us, that His ways are higher than ours and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and that He loves us beyond our understanding.

I believe that is where Abraham and Isaac found themselves.  They had a promise, and that is all they had, but they had found that the One who made the promise was faithful; so they by faith believed, and this is the rest of the story.  “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.  He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even thought God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”  Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from the dead.”  (Hebrews 11:17-19)  My prayer is that Abraham’s faith in God’s promises will be of great help to you and me in our crises of faith.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

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