Genesis 22:1-14
“Complete Trust is Perfect Freedom”
Have you ever had your faith tested?
If so, how did you stand up?
I’ve had my faith tested many, many times…
…and there have been many, many times that I was not able to stand up to the test.
Perhaps things have gone so awfully wrong, folks have treated me so badly, or I’ve felt the church has somehow let me down…and I fail…I don’t continue to trust in God as I should.
It’s as if I’m saying to God, “I’m not going to believe in you anymore or I’m not going to trust you anymore because I am so hurt…
…and I did trust you…
…I did believe in you…
…I did do what was right and you let me down!
And when I stop trusting in God, due to the fact that I have not gotten my way, I start trying to trust in myself instead.
“I’ll do things my way from now on.”
“I’ll make it on my own.”
And then, time will go by, and I will find myself in a much more miserable state of being than I was before I decided not to trust God any longer.
The happiness in life is replaced by a chip on my shoulder.
The joy in life is replaced by anger and a desire for revenge.
And the peace, the peace which transcends all understanding…feels like a figment of my imagination.
It’s at this point that God’s grace always shines through as I decide that there is no other way than to put my full trust in God.
There is no other way to be happy.
There is no other way to be joyful.
There is no other way to be at peace!
Often, I will have to learn this lesson over and over again.
When will I finally learn?
When will I stop making life so hard on myself?
Our Old Testament Lesson for this morning is a hard one, for me at least.
And it’s a hard one because I cannot relate to it in my own life, or I cannot relate to it at the level where I can say: “Yeah, I trust God just as much as Abraham did! I know where he’s coming from! Been there, done that!”
Yet, I would like to come to the point where I do trust God as much as Abraham.
Because with complete trust comes complete freedom.
When all of our trust is put into God’s hands, no matter what the circumstance, we are free from ourselves!
We no longer have to torture ourselves with things like worry, fear, outbreaks of rage, envy, quarrels, gossip, hatred, lack of self-esteem, lack of focus, lack of Center, lack of a Reason to live!!!
We are no longer slaves to these things as Paul puts it in our Epistle Lesson for this morning.
So, let’s look at this morning’s Old Testament Lesson as an example.
An example of a person who did decide to put his entire trust into God’s hands…and found that things do work out very well this way!
Way back in Genesis Chapter 15 God establishes God’s covenant with Abram: “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them…So shall your offspring be.”
By the time we get to chapter 17 Abram is an old man and Sarai, his wife is an old woman.
Nevertheless, God is holding fast to His end of the bargain.
He tells Abraham that his wife’s name will be changed to Sarah and that she will bear a son.
At this, Abraham falls facedown and laughs.
God continues, “my covenant I will establish with Isaac whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.”
And sure enough, a year later, Sarah gave birth to Isaac, whose name means “He laughs.”
Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.”
Isaac certainly brought a lot of laughter into Sarah and Abraham’s lives, but in Chapter 22 we find that the test has begun.
We are told right off that “God tested Abraham.”
It’s good to note that God does not tempt Abraham…not that this would be a temptation.
God tested Abraham.
If we look through the Bible we will find that God does not tempt anyone…this is just not in God’s nature.
Satan tempts us in order to make us fall, to make us slaves to sin, to die—for the wages of sin is death.
God tests us in order to confirm our faith or prove our commitment.
But doesn’t God already know our commitment?
I would think so.
I believe that God tests us so that we can prove our faith to ourselves…and this makes our faith stronger…and through this we grow in our knowledge and in our walk with God.
We learn how much we really need God, and how much we must trust and rely on God…
…and this is grace!
This is a gift!
I believe it was Billy Graham who said: “The mountains are nice, but I grow in the valleys.”
Abraham grew in the valley.
He grew in the valley because he trusted God and obeyed him completely—no matter how outrageous things seemed to get.
“Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
Early the next morning Abraham set out to do just that!
No questions asked. He would obey.
Now, we know that God would not ask us to sacrifice our children or any other human being for that matter, but Abraham did not necessarily know that.
Abraham lived in an age when many people around him were offering up their children to show their faith and obedience to false gods.
So what is the meaning of Abraham’s supreme trial?
This situation may very well be the most profound personal test in all the recorded history of the patriarchs.
Think about it, though.
God had promised Abraham: “My covenant I will establish with Isaac…”and “…it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”
I really think that Abraham, even though he had been asked, by God, to sacrifice his only son Isaac truly continued to believe with all his heart God’s promise to him.
Can you imagine?
Well, Abraham is “the father of all who believe.”
In Hebrews chapter 11 we are told: “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.”
Notice the words “sure” and “certain”.
Why not, “Faith is being pretty sure of what we hope for and really hopeful for what we do not see?”
It’s pretty radical stuff isn’t it?
Abraham was sure and certain in his hope and trust in God.
Two definite words.
No room for doubt.
Hebrews chapter 11 goes on to tell us: “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 though 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 death.”
Abraham “reasoned that God could raise the dead…”
Abraham continued to believe God’s promise as he and Isaac carried the wood and the fire and the knife.
Abraham did not waver in his trust in God when Isaac asked his father: “where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
Abraham did not waver in his faith as he “reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.”
He still trusted in God’s promise that it would be through Isaac’s offspring that the covenant would be fulfilled.
That’s how much Abraham trusted in God!
Can you even begin to imagine?
“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” the angel of the Lord called out…
“Do not do anything to him.”
Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw what he had been sure and certain of…God keeps His promises… “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. So Abraham called that place The Lord will Provide.”
It was by faith that Abraham had answered, “God will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”
And God has…
And God has…
How prophetic those words have become!
When John the Baptist saw Christ coming toward him he said: “Look the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
The same God who urgently stopped Abraham from sacrificing his son…
…offered up His own beloved Son—Jesus the Christ—on the Cross…for us…for us…
That’s the God we have.
That’s the God we are to Trust!!!
May we all pray for the faith of Abraham…
…and may we be thankful that God truly does Provide…
…that is a promise we can be sure and certain of….
…and in this faith we will find perfect freedom!!!
