Hebrews
{11:17} By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaacand he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son{11:18} Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called
By faith- Abraham was tried and by faith he came through the trying. Tried to the uttermost.
We can't fathom that sort of faith because when we face little trials we're ready to stop and say, 'Hold on! No way! God wouldn't ask this of me! It's too hard,it's too much!' We've formed a picture of God as being beyond trying us becausewe've come to a point in society where we've blamed a lot of the past on parentsthat were too hard, on a society that was too exacting and stifling. We'repast all that now. We have freedom to act any way we please and as long as we don't hurt anyone (where any can find out) then hey it's all good, right?
WRONG!
Our entire society has gone from being one of overt respect to one another to overtdisrespect and we call it progress. When a parent can't even punish their childwithout fear of being hauled away as a child abuser, is it no wonder when God triesus that we fail miserably time and again? No parent and especially not a heavenlyparent would put us through tests and trials, no way. A loving parent wouldn't do that, they just wouldn't. They'd nurture us and walk us through things step bystep holding our hands along the way, picking us up and brushing the dirt off our bottoms as we walk along.
Our very idea of a loving God goes against a God that would ask any father to sacrifice his only son, a son of promise, a son long waited for, a son that was tobe the fulfilment of a covenant. No God would do that, no loving God, therefore theGod of the Bible is not loving and contradicts all that is said of Him being love.
Hogwash! Yes, I said hogwash and I meant it. God is love and all He's done has beendone out of love it would be impossible for it to be any other way. It's our ownnotion of what love is that has altered. We think it unloving to have our faith tried. Unloving to be put to the test. Unloving because God forbid that we should have to be put through any hardship. But God doesn't forbid. God tells us we'll betried and tested. Jesus tells us that in this world we will have heartache andpain.
A very loving God, in fact a God that is pure love tested Abraham's faith and Abraham didn't waver. Abraham didn't try to talk God out of the test. Abrahman didn't shake his head and say no way, you're not the God I want to follow if you ask such things of me. Abraham didn't tell God it was too hard, too much, thathe couldn't do it and hey God, you understand don't you... don't you?
We want to keep hold of our own lack of faith to stand up to anything that might be too hard and just cling to a false conception that God understands, thatHe knows.
Yes, He does understand and He does know. But what He knows is that we lack the faith necessary to get through our own personal trials. We shun Him and say thatHe understands and therefore He'll excuse us this time and just overlook ourlack of faith. The devil loves our misconceptions. He loves when we fall short and then blame God, and deceive ourselves into believing that God undrestands andwill overlook our failings.
As long as we're not asked anything equivlent to what God asked of Abraham we'llbe okay, right?
Wrong.
Each day we're put to the test in many ways and it's not because God wants to tripus up and kick us out and away from Him. Our faith needs to grow, our faith needsto increase. We need to have the faith of Abraham in our lives to strengthen us because without faith it is impossible to please God. Without faith it's impossibleto believe that He exists and will reward us. Without faith we have no grasp ofChrist's righteousness. Without faith there is no hope and what our lives are todayis what they'll always be, a mere time period between birth and death, with nothingmore.
Without faith we are blinded to the love of God. Without faith we can't believe that God, our loving Heavenly Father sent His only Son to earth to live among us, as one ofus and to die for all of us. Without faith we can't believe in salvation. Faith.
Let's stop making excuses for ourselves. Let's throw ourselves at the foot of thecross and cling to Jesus begging Him to forgive us our lack of faith, to help our lack of faith. Let us realize that our faith will be tested out of love and thoughwhat seems like an impossible test now will only prove to be to our benefit later.
We need to trust in God with all our heart.
May the Grace and Mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be with us now andforever. May our faith be tested and tried and be found true through the strengthand mercy of our Lord Jesus. We are weak...He is strong and we must cling to Him.
In His most holy and wonderful, all merciful name.
Amen.
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