Faith Alone - February 5, 2012
Sunday, February 5, 2012 at 11:28AM 
Holding Tightly to the Promise
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.
Genesis 22:2
Whenever troubles come into our lives, we naturally assume that we are being punished for something we've done wrong. Wth the help of the devil, our consciences remind us of past sins. We scrutinize our lives and wonder what offended God. This can even lead to blaming God for our problems. Eventually we can end up hating him.
Perhaps Abraham had similar thoughts when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac: "God kept his promise to me. He gave me a son, and this made me extremely happy. Perhaps I've become pround because God gave me a son. Perhaps I wasn't as thankful as I should have been. Maybe the Lord regrets making his promise to me." It's difficult to silence anxious thoughts like these when we can't understand what God is doing. People can't comprehend how an unchanging God can change his mind. Inevitably, we come to one of two conclusions: either God is a liar, or God has become our enemy. Thinking of god as a liar is blasphemy. Thinking of God as our enemy leads to despair.
Often, serious doubts arise, such as "What if God doesn't want me to be saved?" But when our consciences are trouble in this way, we have to continue to believe the promise of salvation -- a promise we can trust in and depend on. When we doubt God's promise, we must pray sincerely and persistently. We must hang on to God's promise, because if Satan can prevent from believing it, then we have nowhere else to turn. We must hold tightly to the promise and be ready for the times when God will test us, as he did Abraham. God doesn't test us because he enjoys it. He tests us to find out whether we love him above all things.
Faith Alone
Reader Comments (2)
"Holding tightly to the promise" is such an apt title for this passage. Whenever I read the story of Abraham and Isaac, I always wonder if Sarah knew where they were going, and why.
Yes, that is a good question.