Who Do You Trust To Catch You?

Who do you trust to catch you?

May have heard the joke about the man who fell off a cliff but managed to grab onto a root jutting out from the cliff face

• As he hung there reviewing his options, he started calling out, “Is anyone up there”

• He was surprised to hear a voice say to him, “Yes, this is God, I’m up here”

• The man was relieved, and quickly asked, “God, can you save me?’

• “Yes”, God said,

• “Great”, said the relieved man, “what should I do?”

• “Let go of the root” said God

• There was a long silence, broken when the man said, “Is there anyone else up there?”

Today we are going to talk about the subject of faith or trust

• When we were kids we used to play a mean trick on our friends – we used to move the chair away just as they were about to sit down

• That ever happened to anyone?

• Well, we’re going to play this same game this morning to see who we can trust

• I’m going to choose someone to come up here and then that person has to choose someone who isn’t going to pull the chair away when they sit down with their eyes closed and their hands over their eyes

• Have to be very careful who you choose

• Let’s try it with someone else. This time you’re going to fall backwards and that person you choose has to catch you

• That was a game of trust. You put your faith and trust in someone you knew wouldn’t let you fall – that was a good choice

• In the Bible there is the story of a man who trusted God so much, He was called the Father of the Faithful

• Faithful is just another word for trust

• Anyone know who this man was? Abraham

• But this story is much more than just Abraham’s faith, its also a story about a young teenager who also showed amazing trust

This is what happened

• This story is very much like the game we just played

• God wanted to see if Abraham would trust him to catch him when he fell backwards

• Would he trust God or would he look around and catch himself like some of you were tempted to do

• But this game was a lot more serious. God had asked Abraham to take his son and sacrifice him on a far off hill

• This was the same son Abraham had waited years and years to have

• And by sacrifice, God meant Abraham was to kill his son by cutting his throat – that’s a lot worst then letting someone fall on the floor

• You’ll find the story in Gen 22:

• It took three days to travel to the mountain and you can just imagine the turmoil Abraham would have been going through trying to decide what to do

• On the way, Isaac, Abraham’s son noticed Abraham had fire and wood to make a sacrifice but no animal

• Gen 22:7-8 "Isaac said to his father Abraham, "Father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." He said, "The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" Abraham said, "God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. So the two of them walked on together.

• Just as you chose someone you could trust to catch you, Abraham had decided to let God catch him

• When they got to the top of the mountain Abraham and Isaac built an alter out of stone and placed the wood on it

• Now we come to a very important part in the story, because Abraham had to tell Isaac that he was going to be the sacrifice

• What would you have done in those circumstances if you were Isaac?

• Any of you like to be sacrificed?

• Yet Isaac made a wise choice as well. He decided to choose his father as the one to catch him as he fell backwards

• So he obediently did what his father asked, he allowed himself to be tied up and laid on the alter to be sacrificed

• When he did that, It was as though Isaac allowed himself to fall backwards and let his father catch him

• Abraham got out his knife and was just about to slay his son when a voice from heaven called out to stop. It was God

• At that moment it was as though Abraham had allowed himself to fall backwards and God caught him

• I bet both Abraham and Isaac felt a huge sense of relief in the same way those of you who allowed yourself to fall were relieved that the person you picked caught you - right