Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1 NIV
Faith is the understanding that everything God’s word says is true and that all we hope for in Christ Jesus is more than just hope, it’s a fixed certainty that we can count on. It involves the ability to believe things simply because they are true, not because we can prove them with physical evidence. It’s more than just an opinion or mental idea, faith is a heart felt conviction that manifests itself in our behavior and actions.
What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? James 2:14 NLT
God sets Abraham up as our primary example of a man living with faith. Let’s look at a time when his faith was clearly demonstrated.
Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
Abraham clearly understood the instructions God had given him, but it made no sense that God would ask him to sacrifice his own son. That simply wasn’t God’s nature, and besides, God had made many promises regarding Isaac and his descendants, none of which could come true if Isaac were to be killed. Has God ever asked you to do something that just didn’t make sense to you? Sometimes we need to just follow God’s lead and trust that in the end, all things will work out according to His plan and His promises.
Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
Take note that Abraham told his servants, “we will come back,” not “I will come back.” Even as Abraham followed through in obedience to God, he was fully convinced that all God promised through Isaac would still come true. None of it made sense, but Abraham trusted God enough to follow Him completely. The writer of Hebrews gives us this insight into the mind of Abraham:
By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death. Hebrews 11:17-19 NIV
Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
Maybe God would raise Isaac back up from death, or maybe at the last minute, He would provide an alternate sacrifice; Abraham had no way of knowing, but he trusted God and pressed on in obedience. That’s what you and I need to do when we don’t have all the details; press on in obedience.
When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
Abraham was wise to obey God and follow His lead, even though it made no sense, and even though he didn’t understand how it would all turn out. He knew just one thing for sure, God had told him what to do, and he needed to do it.
Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. James 2:21-23 NIV