ABRAHAM WORSHIPPED BY FAITH

Heb.11:17-19 – By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,

Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:

Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

This had to be Abraham’s greatest test, the test of faith. He had already forsaken his home, family, and friends to become a stranger in a strange land. He had persevered for thirty years when his wife was barren until Isaac was born in Abraham’s old age. Now, eighteen years later, the Lord asks Abraham to offer his son on the altar as a sacrifice. Abraham had to lean hard on the promise God had given him even if it came to the point that Isaac would have to be raised from the dead. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. At the end of the day that is all any of us have, the promise of God. Abraham was able to worship and offer his son because he had a promise from God. Here is how Barclay describes this.

“Abraham is the model of the individual who accepts what is beyond understanding. To him there had come this incomprehensible demand. It did not make sense. The promise was that in Isaac his seed would grow and grow until he became a mighty nation in which all others would be blessed. On the life of Isaac depended the promise; and now God seemed to want to take that life away. As the fourth-century churchman John Chrysostom put it: ‘The things of God seemed to fight against the things of God, and faith fought with faith, and the commandment fought with the promise.’ For everyone at some time, there comes something for which there seems to be no reason and which defies explanation. It is then that we are faced with life’s hardest battle – to accept when we cannot understand. At such a time, there is only one thing to do – to obey and to do so without resentment, saying: ‘God, you are love! I build my faith on that.’”

So maybe the Lord is leading you out into some difficult or even impossible places, trust Him anyway. Paul said that Abraham grew strong in faith giving glory to God. Paul had to be thinking about Abraham worshipping as he offered his son. So if you are in a tight spot lean on god’s promise and worship Him, there is always going to be a ram in the bush.