Ram Size Provision

Oh to have the faith of Abraham when he obeyed God concerning his son in Genesis chapter 22.  I have thought on this off and on the past couple of weeks.  Some of my thoughts have included how strong faith is often exercised through strong trials.  God could have asked Abraham to offer his prize lamb or his best servant but God chose for Abraham to offer his only son, a part of his heart.

I don't know about you, but when I have time to think about a situation, that time is not always a good thing and I have given this great consideration as well. God told Abraham to go to Moriah, which in my research I found to be 3 plus days from where he was so this means that for three days he had his son in his sight, watching him walk, talk, and whatever a child does while walking to a destination with his father.  I also wondered if Abraham was just waiting for the question Isaac was bound to ask, "where is our sacrifice, father?"  Abraham had plenty of time to think about and to change his mind concerning being obedient to God.  Then Isaac does ask about the offering and when I think of how hard it must have been for Abraham to inform him that HE was the offering God had requested.  Because the sacrifice was to be bound up, this meant that Abraham had to bind his son to prepare him for sacrifice.  Now I could get on a rabbit trail here concerning the obedience of Isaac, but that will have to wait for another day.  In obedience to God, Abraham raises his knife to take his son's life but God had plan and spoke from heaven, asking for Abraham's attention by saying Abraham's name twice and Abraham responded with, "here am I" (verse 11). Now is when God reveals to Abraham that he has passed the test and that God knows that Abraham fears him because he offered his son completely to Him.  God sent a ram for Abraham to sacrifice instead.  What a picture of what Christ did in offering His son on our behalf for our sins.

God calls for us to part with our Isaacs.  This looks different ways to different people because God has a unique plan for each of us.  It may be in the form of a rebellious child who is driven to disobedience that we need to hand over for God to deal with, no matter how hard that seems.  It may be in the form of our health being taken away from us and we are struggling to even live another day.  It may be in the form of material possessions that God asks us to part with even though they were items of happiness to us.

What is God allowing to happen with your life to reveal your faith in Him?  Sometimes this journey can seem to be so full of drama and our hearts are weighed down with heaviness of the fleshly matters at hand, and yet we can rest in the promise that God knows the end from the beginning and He alone is what we need to take the next step.  At times this looks absolutely daunting and we want to turn back to where we were but in order to grow in Christ we need to continue to keep our focus on Him and trust His Word.

Genesis 22:14-18 "And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.  And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:  That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;  And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice."