The Lord kept His promise! (Genesis 21-23, Psalm 107, Mark 8)

What joy for a couple who had been waiting so long! We don’t know how long they had been trying for, but we do know it was 25 years since God had made the promise! What joy, what laughter. And then God asks Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son (Genesis 22). How can God ask such a thing? This must have been so hard for Abraham to do, as they journeyed towards the place of sacrifice, can you imagine the ache in Abraham’s heart. He must have wrestled with what God was asking. And yet, by now, He knew God was good, and was learning to trust Him. He knew God had made and would keep His promise, he knew Isaac was the son of the promise and so if God was going to bring blessing to all nations, God must have a plan. The book of Hebrews tells us that Abraham trusted that God could raise Isaac from the dead (11:19). Abraham trusted that the Lord was at work for good.

But how his heart must have ached as he climbed the mountain with his son, and Isaac asked him, where is the lamb for the sacrifice? By faith Abraham answered “the Lord will provide.” Yet when they reach the place of sacrifice, there is still no lamb, and Abraham has to bind Isaac. Remember that Abraham is over 100 at this point, we don’t know how old Isaac is at this point, but surely he could have put up a bit of resistance, perhaps he was willing and likewise was trusting the Lord would provide. He would, but not until Abraham had raised the knife. The Lord called him to stop, and provided a substitute to offer instead, a ram who was caught in the thicket.

Why did God put Abraham through this, was it to help Abraham grow in his faith? After the test, God made yet another promise to Abraham about his offspring bringing blessing to all nations.

A promise that would take even longer for God to fulfill. But at just the right time, God’s only son was born, the son He loved. And at just the right time he went up another mountain (perhaps even the same mountain- Moriah may well be the same place as Calvary), but this time there was no voice from heaven. The beloved Son went willing to his death as the substitute the Lord provided for us. When you see that He died in your place, you can trust Him no matter what he asks.

He won’t ask us to literally sacrifice our children, but he does ask us to daily take up our cross, to die to ourselves, and put him first (Mark 8).

Where do you need God’s help to trust Him? Is there an area where you are not putting Him first. Why not ask for His help now?