Reasoning Faith

Reasoning Faith

Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.

Genesis 22:2

It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.” Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again.

Hebrews 11:17-19

Have you ever put together a big five hundred–piece puzzle and been convinced at some point that there must be some pieces missing because you just couldn’t find the ones you need? Sometimes walking with God feels like that. We look at our circumstances and then look at God’s promises, and we think, This just doesn’t seem to fit together.

Certainly Abraham must have had those thoughts when he heard God telling him to put his son Isaac to death. Yet Genesis records that “early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey” and headed up the mountain with young Isaac (Genesis 22:3, NIV). It’s not clear in Genesis what gave Abraham the confidence to tell his servants, “We will worship . . . and then we will come right back” (Genesis 22:5, emphasis added). But Hebrews tells us that Abraham “reasoned” from who God is, and it empowered him to obey. Abraham must have thought, I don’t like this at all. But for God to fail me, he’d have to stop being God, and that’s impossible. God is doing something here I don’t understand, but I know he will provide. My life is a front-row seat for watching God keep his promises.

That kind of reasoning is faith. It helps us put together the puzzle in our minds when our circumstances seem to be saying that God is not good or that he has failed us or that he isn’t living up to his promises. We have to reason it through from what we know is true about God’s character and power and purposes.

DISCUSSION STARTERS

When your parents tell you to do something that you don’t understand, how do you respond? What do you know about your parents that could help you to obey?

What does “early the next morning” say about Abraham’s obedience?

What do you think was the purpose of Abraham’s test?