"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1-6
Faith is:
a knowing confidence
an assurance in your heart
Having faith is like having a deed to property you've never seen. Even though you haven't seen the property, the deed entitles you to go and take access to that property.
Faith doesn't mean you're just "hanging on" or wishing for something. It means that whatever was promised is guaranteed.
Romans 10:17 says "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." Faith comes to you from God. It comes to us from hearing God's Word. The source and basis for faith is the word of God.
Abraham's Faith Was Tested
(Genesis 22:1-18)
God had promised Abraham a son and had told him that his son would give birth to many more children and start a nation that would take possession of Canaan, the promised land.
Abraham was tested concerning the precious gift he had in his son, Isaac. God told him to take Isaac to a distant mountain and sacrifice him. Abraham did as God commanded. He told his servants to wait while he and Isaac went to worship and that they would return. On the way up the mountain, Isaac asked his father where the lamb for the burnt offering was. "God will provide Himself a lamb." This statement is both literal and prophetic. Abraham was speaking of God providing a lamb to be in place of Isaac, his son, but it also refers to God sending His son as the Lamb of God to take our place.
Faith has its own logic. Abraham reasoned in faith, that God was going to provide something. He thought God would provide a lamb for the sacrifice or God would raise Issac from the dead. He knew that Issac was the son of promise and he knew that God told him to go to the mountain to make the sacrifice. So reasoned that God would make some provision so that God's word would be true.
When they reached the place for the sacrifice, Abraham built an altar, arranged the wood on it, and bound his son Isaac on the altar. He took out his knife, preparing to slay his son, Isaac, as God had commanded. But the Angel of the Lord called out to him and he saw a ram caught in the thicket. God had provided the sacrifice.
Our Faith Journey
Our journey of faith starts with a relationship with God and of hearing God's voice. We develop this relationship and we gain confidence as we obey his word and experience his promises being fulfilled in our lives. We get to know him. You start to trust him for the smaller steps so that later on you can trust him for the more significant things of life.
Abraham was able to step in faith because he was familiar with the voice and promptings of God. We will grow more in this area as we interact with God regularly.
If God has promised you something, even when all the material facts imply the opposite, faith allows you to keep obeying and believing. When it seems confusing and dark, remember what he promised you in the light and make your move based on the instructions in the light.
Sacrifice and Provision
Abraham didn't know that the ram was going to be there until he went to make the sacrifice and God met him in that place at that moment. And when you get to the place of sacrifice, God will meet you there with His provision. Abraham knew the Lord that day as "the Lord who sees and provides". He said, "On the Mountain of the Lord, He provided". Unknown to Abraham, while he was walking his son up the mountain, the angel of the Lord was guiding a ram up the other side to meet him. It was a good thing Abraham did not stop halfway. He would have missed the provision of the ram to offer the sacrifice and worship the Lord.
There are times that we will meet the provision of the Lord at the place and the time we are making the sacrifice in obedience to God's word. God may have required something of you. God may have led you to make a sacrifice of something dear to you: an ambition, a relationship, a talent, money, time, a job whatever. Yet when we trust Him, we can make the sacrifice and obey, because we know "Jehovah Jireh" - the Lord who sees and makes provision.
Let us consider to 'offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to the Lord' knowing that it is at that point and place of sacrifice and obedience that God makes the provision. After all, it is such sacrifice that is our reasonable act of worship (Romans 12:1-2).
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