"The Testing of Our Faith"

BIBLE READING: Genesis 22-24

A college student had come to take his final exam in his ornithology class (the study of birds). It had been a tough class with a tough professor. The exam consisted of 25 pictures of birds’ feet and he had to identify which birds they were, based solely on their feet. The exasperated student said; “I’m not going to do this. Nobody could pass this test!” The professor replied, “Then I will have to fail you.” Defiantly, the student said, “So, fail me!” The angry professor replied, “Okay, what’s your name?” The student took off his shoes and socks and said, “You tell me.”  None of us like hard tests do we?   But as Christians, we learn that our faith is constantly being tested.  Some of those tests are easy, but many times they are very difficult.  In the case of Abraham in Genesis 22, this was probably the most difficult of tests.  How could a man be willing to offer up his son as a sacrifice to God? I believe that the reason he was able to agree to do so, was because Abraham had trust in God.  God had spoken to him on several occasions, and had never let him down before.  Abraham trusted God would provide a way. We know this because in Genesis 22.5, Abraham told his servants that he and Isaac would return to them. That is trust!  Many of us say that we believe God and that we trust in Him, yet we are not willing to back it up with our actions.  Abraham did and it was accounted unto him as righteousness.  So why did God ask this of Abraham?  Could it be for the sole reason of revealing to us the greatness of the sacrifice He made in offering up His Son for us as a sacrifice?  God wants us to trust Him so much that He was willing to offer us His only Son so that we could see how much He loves us.  So, when our faith is tested, whether it be easy or difficult, we can trust that He is there to help us.

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