In the current world that we are living in, negativity stands at every corner shouting, trying its best to flood our thoughts and I find myself constantly searching for something good and positive, in spite of all the darkness happening around us.
Recently while reading Genesis 22 where God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, I noticed some words that made me realise the undeniable faith Abraham had in God. A faith that said, “I know God will provide. No matter what. No matter how big the task lies in front of me.” He never doubted that God’s promise that He was Abraham’s provider. It amazed me how he walked in that faith and God came through for him. Every time.
Have you experienced that kind of faith? Do you want to?
If we return to the story, we read in verse 2 where God said to Abraham, “Take your son… your only son Isaac, whom you love … and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about”.
I’m not sure that I would be prepared to obey any request of that nature and that is because I look to myself and see my own selfishness and short-comings and I forget to look to God and how he will provide. For Abraham, it might have been the same, but he chose to look away from his own insecurities and trust God because he knew that whatever God asked of him, He first provided.
The next morning Abraham took Isaac and two young men and three days later they reached the place where he had to make the sacrifice. Abraham turned to the two young men and said, “Stay here… The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you” (verse 5). Abraham did not say that I will come back to you, but “we’ll” meaning, him and Isaac will come back to them.
As the left, Isaac spoke to Abraham, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” (verse 7) And Abraham without hesitation replied that “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering…” (verse 8)
When they reached the point that the offering had to take place, there was still no sign of the lamb and Abraham did not turn around, but continued to obey God’s instruction and bound Isaac and placed him on the altar of wood. He loved his son and I have no doubt that his emotions ran wild as he was about to offer his son, but also trusting God to provide. The time was running out and still there was no sign of the provisions Abraham believed God for.
In that final moment when Abraham took the knife to slaughter his son, the angel of God appeared who instructed Abraham to not lay a hand on his son and Abraham saw the lamb caught in a thicket by its horns that God gave to offer.
What strikes me about this story is how Abraham just knew that God was going to provide and in those final moments where I would start doubting whether God would provide, Abraham didn’t. He didn’t hesitate or started doubting God and questioning His goodness. Remember he told the two young men that were with them that they will return and he told Isaac that God will provide the lamb without seeing any evidence of that at that point in time .Abraham had that undeniable faith that whatever God asked of him or expected of him God would provide.
How do we walk in such faith?
I can only speak for myself. In my moments of doubts I have learned to not look at myself and my little faith but I fall back onto God’s promises for whatever need I am facing and I just continue to declare and hold onto them. With every word I read and think about, He invests a little more of Him in me and I may still be a work in progress, but with Jesus on my side and inside of me, I know that when the time comes I no longer have to depend on my own faith like Abraham had to do in the Old Testament, but I can rely on His faith that He instils in me through His Spirit that now abides in me.
I am not sure where you find yourself or what situation you are facing, but my prayer for you is that God will bring a fresh anointing over you and strengthen you with Jesus’s faith through His Holy Spirit. I pray that no matter what you are facing, you will know and believe that God will provide, whether it is in the form of finances, healing, breakthroughs or strength to face each day. I pray that His undeniable presence in your life will become tangible and that His Word will take root in your heart that no matter what the enemy sends your way, it cannot uproot the seed that God’s Word has planted in you. I pray the blood of Jesus over you and ask that He will bless you with a new measure of His faith for every situation you encounter. In Jesus’s Name, Amen.
Maretha Retief