Genesis 22:7

New International Version (NIV)

Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

For Meditation

In the middle of their trip to Mount Moriah, Isaac grew uneasy about something. They were missing the main item for the sacrifice – the lamb (Gen. 22:7). It was the main item for the sacrifice, so Isaac asked about it. Abraham responded with an iconic statement of faith.

“God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son” (8).

Years later, the writer of Hebrews gave us an insight into Abraham’s thinking.

“Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from the dead” (Heb. 11:19).

Our knowledge of God carries our faith in every situation. What we believe God can do in any situation determines our thinking and action.

There is no doubt that Isaac’s question pieced his father’s heart like a sharp sword. Right from the beginning, Abraham knew what God was asking from him. God didn’t make it any easier for him by emphasizing the fact that Isaac was the son of promise, the covenant child. Abraham’s future was set in Isaac; yet, God asked Abraham to sacrifice him as burnt offering to Him.

We all go through it. We call it, crisis of faith – the moments when circumstances challenge our faith to the core. There is always something missing at such times – something that doesn’t make sense. But that’s what defines faith. It “is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Heb. 11:1). It comes with an attitude like that of the three Hebrew boys.

“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it … But even if he does not … we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Dan. 3:17-18).

1. What is your crisis of faith this morning?
2. What has God told you to do that you are struggling with?
3. What is that missing factor that makes it difficult to make the final decision?
4. How much do you know about God and His faithfulness?
5. Has there ever been a miracle without believing beyond that missing piece of information?

I pray you can reason with God in your current situation, rather than trying to decipher what makes sense before your final determination. For, that is what discipleship is all about.

So: May you trust Him when it doesn’t make sense; and may the faithfulness of God reward your trust when your obedience is complete.

Jesus is always the missing piece in your crisis of faith.

Shalom