Thought for the Day – November 2, 2009

Text: Genesis 22:1-2
1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”  NKJV

At first thought, one could easily wonder what kind of God asks an aging father who waited his entire lifetime for a child, to offer that only child as a sacrifice?  This is no ordinary father, no ordinary child, and one and only true God.  God the Father had chosen Abram to become the Father of many.  In fact, Abraham means the “father of many.”  From Abraham, an entire nation would rise to walk with their Father.  Abraham believed in the promise of God even when years passed with no evidence of fulfillment.  God credited that faith as righteousness.  Isaac was becoming a young man.  Soon, he would marry and the bloodline extended.

The faith of two men were tested; Abraham as the father, Isaac as the son.  Isaac was a growing, strong young man.  He carried the wood for the sacrifice up the mountain.  He willingly let Abraham bind him upon the sacrificial altar.  He could easily resist and bolt.  He trusted his father.  His father trusted the Father.

This was an extreme test for extreme outcomes.  A nation was at stake.  The extreme test brought extreme faith to Abraham and the young Isaac, the new leader of a nation.  The extreme faith produced a extreme man of God in Isaac.

Thought for the Day – Extreme tests bring extreme faith that produce extreme men and women of God.