Category Archives: Faith

Because You Obeyed

Posted on by
Reply

In Genesis 22 we read the familiar story of Abraham offering his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice in obedience to God’s command. We know how Abraham, Isaac, and two young men traveled three days to the land of Moriah. As they approach the mountain, Abraham and Isaac leave the young men and go up the mountain alone with the wood and the fire. Isaac, of course, asks his father where the animal for the sacrifice was, and Abraham responds by saying that “God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering” (Gen. 22:8).

At the top of the mountain, Abraham builds the altar, lays the wood on the altar, binds Isaac and lays him on the wood, then raises the knife to slay his son. Of course, God stops him, Abraham sees the ram caught in the thicket by his horns, and they sacrifice the ram instead of Isaac. Following this, the angel of the Lord calls to Abraham, and the words he says I believe are significant, not only for Abraham but also for us.

The angel says, “By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice” (Gen. 22:16-18).

The blessings mentioned in these verses are part of the covenant blessings God made with Abram earlier (Gen. 12:1-3; 15:1-5), but it appears that the promised blessings were conditioned upon Abraham obeying God’s command. Is it possible that, though God gave Abraham the promise, he would not have received the fulfillment of that promise if he had not done what God asked him to do and offer Isaac as a sacrifice? Could God be testing Abraham’s faith to see if he would fully commit himself to God regardless of the cost? I believe the answer to both questions is, yes.  

 We know that Abraham did make a great step of faith when he left his family and homeland not knowing where he was going—only that God would show him (Gen. 12:1). However, there were moments when Abraham’s faith wavered. He showed a lack of trust in God when he asked Sarah to say she was his sister when they were in Egypt (Gen. 12:10-20). And he and Sarah did not show great faith when they tried to help God provide a son by having Abraham father a son through Hagar (Gen. 16:1-4). Then, both Abraham and Sarah laughed when God confirmed that they would give birth to a son (Gen. 17:15-17; 18:9-12).

It seems, however, that since the birth of Isaac, and Abraham saw the faithfulness of God to keep His promises, his faith grew to the point where he believed that God was even able to raise Isaac from the dead (Heb. 11:17-19).  Abraham had grown to trust God so much that when God asked him to give up the son of promise, he was willing to obey because He knew God would somehow fulfill his covenant promise of a multitude of descendants through whom the nations of the earth would be blessed.  He may not have understood why, but he trusted God which is why Abraham is called the father of our faith (Rom. 4).

So, what does that mean for us today? There are three points that I take from Abraham’s story. One is that faith is really a matter of trust. I think we have this idea that faith is simply saying the right words, making the right confession, or believing in something strong enough that it will happen. But faith comes out of our relationship with God. The closer we get to God and the better we know Him, the more we can trust Him. So, if we want to see our faith grow, we need to grow closer to God. The second point is that our faith does grow with experience. We are not going to start out as giants of the faith who can see amazing miracles happen right away. Like anything else, we begin trusting God for little things. Then, as we see that He keeps His promise in the small things, we will know that we can trust Him for bigger things. This is all part of building our relationship with Him. The third point is that obedience must accompany our faith. James says that faith without works is dead (James 2:14-26). I remember hearing a pastor say years ago that faith never stands around with its hands in its pockets. Faith is always demonstrated with action. If we have faith in God, we will do what He asks us to do even if, as with Abraham, we may not understand why. It is only when we put our faith into action and obey God that we will see the promises God has for us fulfilled. Only “because you have obeyed my voice” (Gen. 22:18).

And God Remembered Noah

Posted on by
Reply

I am sure most of you are familiar with the story of Noah. In Genesis 6, the Bible says that mankind was so wicked that God was grieved that He had created man and found it necessary to destroy the world (Gen. 6:5-7). Noah was a righteous man and walked with God, so God commissioned him to build an ark to save him and his family along with representatives of every kind of animal (Gen. 6:8-22).

In Genesis 7, we read that after Noah, his family, and all the animals entered the ark, God shut the door. It then rained for forty days and forty nights, the waters of the deep burst from the ground, and the heavens opened up a deluge (Gen. 7:11-12). The flood waters covered the entire earth and rose above the highest mountains. Every living thing, both man and beast, on the earth perished in the flood and all the dry ground was covered (Gen. 7:17-23). The only ones left were those on the ark, and all they could see was water.

Imagine being on the ark and experiencing the horrendous torrent of rain and the dramatic upheaval of the earth bringing a flood that destroyed all of life on the earth. Then, picture yourself living through the next 150 days of seeing nothing but water. How would you feel? Would you feel abandoned? Lost? Without hope? Would you wonder, “Where is God?”

Then we come to Genesis 8:1 which reads, “But God remembered Noah…”. At first glance, this almost sounds as if God woke up one day and, slapping His forehead, said, “Oh my, I forgot I left Noah, his family, and the animals bobbing around in the water on that ark!” However, that is not what this phrase means. It is important for us to realize that Hebrew words have a much fuller meaning than most of our English words do. Lois Tverberg explains it as follows:

In English, our definition of the word remember focuses entirely on the idea of recalling memories and bringing ideas into our thoughts. To forget is to fail to bring a certain memory to mind. Both words are concerned entirely with mental activity—whether or not information is present. But the Hebrew verb zakhar has a much wider definition than just “remember.” It includes both remembering and the actions that are taken because of remembering. It often implies that a person did a favor for someone, helped them, or was faithful to a promise or covenant.a

In other words, with the Hebrew words, the emphasis is on action and not on mental activity. When the Bible says that God remembered Noah, it does not mean that He was recalling lost information. Instead, it means that He was acting upon a promise He had given earlier. It was now the right time to keep His promise to Noah, and to intervene and fulfill His purpose.

We see another example of this in the New Testament in Mark 6:45-51. In this passage, Jesus, after feeding the 5,000, sends His disciples in a boat to cross the sea to the other side while He goes up the mountain to pray. A storm came during the night and the disciples struggled to make any progress. I’m sure they were fatigued and fearful that they might not survive the storm. I also believe they may have wondered where Jesus was and why He wasn’t helping them as He had done before when they were caught in a storm (Mark 4:35-41).  Jesus, however, had not abandoned them. He was on the mountain watching everything that was happening (Mark 6:48), and at the right moment, He went out to them walking on the water, and rescued them.

I believe that everything Jesus did with His disciples was done for a reason. I believe sending the disciples into the storm was a test of their faith. It was an opportunity for them to learn to trust Him, and to know that no matter how difficult the storm, He is always watching them, and He will come at just the right time to help them: He will remember them.

What storm are you going through now? Do you feel lost, helpless, and without hope? Do you feel as if God has abandoned you? I want to encourage you to remember Noah and the disciples. Even though you may not feel God’s Presence in your current situation, He has not forgotten you. He sees you and knows what you are going through. And, at the right moment, God will remember you and will intervene to keep His promise and fulfill His purpose for your life.

aTverberg, Lois. Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus. Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Location 918