Trust Brings Results: Genesis 22:15-24
Because we know God’s character, we can step into that trust and discover His blessing upon our life. He can make life out of nothing. He can turn evil into good. There is nothing impossible for Him. We can trust Him.
God comes to Abraham a second time through the angel of the Lord. He tells Abraham that since Abraham did not withhold his son, then God will bless him. This story is completely about trust. Abraham is willing to put his future in the hands of God and trust Him.
When we talk about trust, though, we need to make sure that we aren’t talking blind faith. God didn’t ask Abraham to sacrifice his son as the first contact in the relationship. God walked with Abraham as he called him out of Ur. God walked with Abraham when they moved from Haran to Canaan. God walked with Abraham while Abraham lived as a nomad among the native Canaanites. God walked with Abraham even when Abraham left Canaan to go to Egypt and Abraham wasn’t walking as closely to God. God walked with Abraham when he rescued Lot. God walked with Abraham when Abraham dealt with Abimelech.
Look at how often God was with Abraham! God didn’t ask Abraham to put Abraham’s son in His hands without having proven Himself many times already. This is an incredible story of faith, but it is not a demonstration of blind faith. Abraham trusted God because of the massive amount of life experience that Abraham and God already had together.
Returning to the analogy of myself and my students or mentees, the same thing is true. I don’t ask people I’m mentoring to trust me in substantial ways until they know me. It’s not fair to ask for trust until the people you are asking are confident they know your character.
This leads into the larger perspective for what God is doing here. God asks Abraham for his only son, and Abraham gives Isaac to God. God proves His character. In the same way, God will entrust His only Son to humanity. We also proved our character when we crucified Him. God knew who we were when He sent His Son to us; He knew what we would do. That’s part of this story. Trust is based on relationship.
That’s the amazing part of what God does with Jesus. He knows our character. He knows we will crucify Jesus. He knows what will happen because He knows us. God still goes through with the plan. God not only sends us His Son knowing what we will do to Him, but He does it so we might find salvation through His sacrifice.
Well-placed trust always brings results. Abraham trusted God, acted on that trust, and receives the blessing of the promise. The same is true with us. God asks us to trust Him. Because we know God’s character, we can step into that trust and discover His blessing upon our life.
