If you ever have a question about what it means to be so totally confident in trusting God that you can just assume He is taking care of everything I have an idea. Pull up a chair, sit down, kick off your shoes and visit with Abraham. If you can, take time to read the entire narrative found in Genesis 22:1-19 because it will provide you with a much larger picture and explanation. But for our purpose today I am including just a small portion of the passage. By way of background, animal sacrifices were a regular part of Old Testament worship.

Genesis 19:2,5,14,19 (2) “God said, ‘Take now your son, your only son [of promise], whom you love, Isaac, and go to the region of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.’ (5) Abraham said to his servants, ‘Settle down and stay here with the donkey; the young man and I will go over there and worship [God], and we will come back to you.’ (14) Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide. (19) So Abraham returned to his servants…” (Amplified Bible)

This came to me one day as I was reading the story of Abraham trudging up the mountain to obey God’s command to sacrifice Isaac. I was saying to myself “oh my gosh this is incredible.” It sent me on a mental journey as I tried to fathom the tremendous faith that Abraham exhibited.

I am well acquainted with how Abraham trusted God greatly in waiting 25 years for Isaac’s birth after God’s first promise. Now that is faith. But I feel this story of implicit trust transcends that one. Have you ever thought that when Abraham so confidently announced to his servants that he AND Isaac would return when they finished worshiping, that his unflinching faith was not based on any communication with God? The last visit he had with the Almighty he had been told to sacrifice his son with no mention of a way out. We do not know how old Isaac was when this occurred but some scholars believe him to have been around 20. The only significance this has for our story is to show that Abraham was still relying on a promise originally made perhaps as much as 45 years earlier—the promise that generations would come because of Isaac. Wow!!

Talk about assumptive and expectant confidence—talk about “could this get any worse but I am soldiering on with undaunted trust that God is gonna come through for me.” Geez. That took guts to have that kind of faith. My friends take a minute—just take one minute to let this sink in!! And it gets more intense. Abraham was so sure God was bringing a positive solution in his favor that he shared his confidence with his servants. He said it right out loud—“we will be back”. Adjectives escape me in trying to find a descriptor for this kind of faith—to have a faith so strong in God’s provision that before it happens you are telling other people. How do you describe that?

As impossible as it seems it gets better. Paul shares an additional insight into this remarkable man. In Hebrews 11:19 Paul says of Abraham, ” For he considered [it reasonable to believe] that God was able to raise Isaac even from among the dead… “ (Amplified Bible) AMAZING—he considered it reasonable that could be God’s solution to this predicament!!

Abraham’s doubt resistant attitude was well rewarded—his assumptive confidence and expectation honored. Remember how he named the mountain, “The Lord will provide”? Oh my goodness dear reader He certainly did. Just as Abraham was getting ready to sacrifice Isaac God stopped him mid motion. And there in the bush was a ram to be used for the oblation. The Lord provided and Abraham and Isaac returned to the servants.

When you pray this week ask that you might be overcome by God’s Presence generating in you Abraham type faith, assumptive confidence and expectation.

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