“I Trust You, Lord, Even When.... ”
A couple of weeks ago a friend asked me to come over to his home and install a wireless router for his DSL Internet service. I’ve done this dozens of times so when I showed up I just took it out of the box and hooked up the wires, plugged it in, and rebooted everything. It did not work. He laughed long and hard and said he could have done just as well himself. About 30 minutes later, after reading the installation instructions, we had a working installation.
Let me go right to my point this morning....
Trials, tests, difficult decisions, encounters with evil, confusing days when no choices seem to the right one – yes, there will be moments when God’s way just doesn’t make sense – will come down the road at us. There are times when life is just madness, when no rational way is apparent, when nothing in our experience or training helps us to answer the questions. In these moments of seeming madness there is a choice for Believers–
Will I try to live on my own terms OR will I follow the Creator’s manual?
In Proverbs we read, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." (16:25, NIV)
Today our Scripture lesson in the wisdom of God is drawn from the tremendous faith of a man named Abraham. God presented him with a situation that demanded HUGE faith. God asked him to give up that which he loved most, that which was the center of his life, the hope of receiving even God’s promises. As Abraham wrestled with the sacrifice of his son, Isaac, it had to seem like madness to him. How could he follow God’s direction? It tested the depth of this man’s faith like no other test in his life. The great news? HE PASSED THE TEST! His example for us is flawless.
I want to lay a challenge before you to make a priority choice of faithful obedience to the Lord God.
TEXT - Hebrews 11:17-19
The fuller account is found in Genesis 22:1-4 where we read:
Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
About 15 years into his promised son’s life, after years of delight and raised expectations in this true son, God speaks once again to Abraham. This time the words are not words of comfort or promise. They are words that must have seemed, at first hearing, to be madness.... sheer insanity –
Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.
Besides the obvious difficulty of being called on to make a sacrifice of his son, this instruction was all the more difficult to understand because Isaac was the son of promise, the one through whom Abraham expected all of God’s promises to be fulfilled. And know, too, Abraham and his wife, were well past child-bearing years, with no earthly chance of having another child. So the words echo through Abraham’s mind...
Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.
Nothing in the Scripture tells us what emotions he struggled with, but it is not hard to imagine.
Do you think he might have felt shock and confusion?
“God, I know Your voice. I have walked with You, worshiped You, listened to You for years now. How could You ask this?”
Remember, we know the whole story. We know that God never had any intent to take this test to its ultimate end... but Abraham did not KNOW any of these things!
He only knew that he was faced with the most difficult test of his entire life!
∙ Whom did he love most... God or Isaac?
∙ Which demand would he satisfy, the need for a son or the need to obey the command of His God?
We all find ourselves in situations where two demands compete — our will and God’s will!
Jesus tells us that the greatest command is this:
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ Matthew 22:37
It is not our words or our ideals that shows our truest love. What and who we love most is revealed in our daily choices, especially those choices where God’s requirements demand self-denial!
Everyone one of us has found ourselves crying out at some time...
What do you want from me, God?
There is no logic, no reason, no sense... this is crazy! What does this prove?
Why does loving You have to hurt so much?”
In asking these kinds of questions, we are only human.
∙ Have you ever been in that situation?
∙ Have you ever wrestled with options that demanded a choice,
a place of no compromise and less common sense?
The moments when God’s reasons are hidden are the hardest moments of faith.
It is not so hard to endure when we can see a reason. But when suffering comes to us that has no immediate explanation, which does not yield itself to reason; then we are tested. It is in those moments we discover the depth of our faith.
What a faith Abraham had previously cultivated!
We must not miss that part of this story. This kind of test came to a man well advanced in his spiritual maturity. God knew how much Abraham could stand up to and He already knew how deeply this man trusted Him.
This test was not so much for the Lord as it was for Abraham. In it God would reveal greater truth about Himself to Abraham. More about that in a moment...
Take another look at Genesis 22:3. "Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about." (Genesis 22:3, NIV)
He didn’t delay or ask for further clarification. He OBEYED immediately. I am impressed by this obedience. Indeed, it is the secret of his blessed life. God spoke and he obeyed.
When we hear God speak, I pray that we will recognize His voice and PROMPTLY obey.
We will be tempted to try to cut our own deal with God, to negotiate a better set of circumstances, to excuse ourselves from the hard decisions that faith requires of us. Even when we know what God is saying to us, there will be a temptation to resist.
Believer - do not allow yourself to fall into a most common temptation of those who are delaying obedience.
What is that temptation? We attempt to hide our true desire with insincere words of worship or with religious talk! We sweetly we sing, “I love you, Lord.” We gush the right words in church company, but in our hearts we are stubbornly unyielding. God is not impressed with words. He looks for obedience.
Jesus told a parable about two sons who were given direction by their Dad. One said, “Sure, Dad, no problem. I’ll get right on it.” Then, he did his own thing. The other said, “Dad, I don’t want to do this.” But then, he went and did it anyway. Then, Jesus explained his story. It isn’t what we say, but what we do that pleases our Father!
Saul, the first king of ancient Israel refused to obey God’s clear command, yet prepared elaborate sacrifices for Him. When Samuel the spokesman for the Lord showed up at the sacrificial assembly, he brought this stinging rebuke from God:
“Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD?
To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.” – 1 Samuel 15
IF your heart is not inclined to obedience to God – better to remain silent than to try to convince God and others of your devotion! Words without action insult God!
Jesus reserves his strongest condemnations for those who play at religiosity, without giving their minds and hearts to the will of God in complete obedience. To some who lived like this, Jesus said
First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.. . .you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. . . .You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? – Matthew 23
First, obey... then worship. That is the pattern of the Word, of Abraham. He obeyed God’s voice, left on the journey, and then worshiped.
Let me read you the rest of this story. . . Genesis 22:5-14 PB 31
READ
How did the man find the resolve to travel three days and remain steadfast in his task?
The Bible answers that for us -- Hebrews 11:19 Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.
He reasoned, “God gave me a son miraculously. God has kept His promises in the past. God is God and He can, if need be, raise my son from the dead.” Such faith settles on the person and promise of God!
If you choose to live in this way, many will call you a fool! Even family will think you’re making a huge mistake, that you should do what is ‘reasonable.’But they reason only from the obvious, the visible.... as those who are without faith.
Let GENUINE faith - which the Bible defines as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1, KJV) inform your actions.
When it appears that God is asking you to throw away everything of worldly value– when your family and friends tell you that you’re crazy, listen once again. You may be about to discover a rich truth about Him, about the spiritual reality that is greater than what you can see with your physical eyes.
That is exactly what happened to Abraham in his obedience! He came to know a deep and profound truth about his God... and he gave the Lord a new name. He is Yahweh Yireh – The Lord who provides.
There on that mountaintop God substituted a ram for the sacrifice, sparing the life of Isaac. Those final moments when Isaac was bound and laid on the wood, readied for death had to have been moments of terror for both father and son. Yet, they moved forward.
There have been situations where I have protested to God... Obedience will kill me, Lord.
I don’t want to forgive him! Or
I want a new assignment! Or
Why can’t I have that thing I really want?
Generally, such protests are met with silence. God, as my Father, knows that He owes me no explanations because He is good and wise! I have only to do what I know that He demands of me.
And, I have walked this road long enough, that I can tell you that obedience is always best. Those choices which I certainly ‘knew’ would ‘just kill me’ actual open the door to greater life.
God provides in the moment when we radically abandon ourselves to His will by transforming the madness into something we could not have imagined.
In one of my favorite passages, Paul spoke of that kind of discovery when he prayed for the Believers in a church he had founded. Ephesians 3:17-21
.... (May) Christ dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!
Do you love Him?
Will you TRUST Him?
The cost will be great, but what of merit or praiseworthiness is accomplished without cost?
Compared to the rich rewards of obedience, the cost is nil. Remember that.
___________________________
Sometimes the world seems mad, life is simply insanity. If you have given your life to Christ, stand firm in these moments by trusting in His power and His purpose.
The pivotal event that reveals God’s goodness is, itself, a paradox! He gave His Son to die so we could live!
In that story we see the Ultimate Yahweh Yireh revelation. Tho’ evil often appears to triumph, what Christ did on Calvary’s cross and the subsequent Resurrection is proof positive that His kingdom will prevail.
In our quest to be 21st century sophisticates, we may be tempted to stop listening for the voice of God in our souls... to follow the conceit of our own wisdom. If we do, be sure of poverty of spirit that will follow!
Listen for Him. Wait on His voice. He IS speaking. And sometimes... what He says... by our estimation seems to defy reason, but I remind you of the wisdom of the Word: "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death."
We may not understand the ‘why” on this side of eternity.... BUT we can trust in WHO He is and that He has promised to guide me safely home to His side. Have the faith of Abraham who said to his son, “God himself will provide.” He is Yahweh Yireh – The Lord, our Provider. Take God at His word and discover Him as the One who Provides. AMEN
Jerry D. Scott, 2008