Genesis 22:18 “And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.” 

Abraham was used to waiting. He waited 25 years for God to give him his son, Isaac. And he spent most of his life wandering in foreign lands, trusting that God would show him where to go next. Imagine what Abraham must have been thinking when one day God asks him to kill the son he’d waited years for. 

No one would have blamed Abraham if he said “no” or became bitter, defensive, angry, or fearful. But instead, he chooses to live within the tension of trusting that God will intervene, and to worship God even if He doesn’t. Abraham even tells Isaac that “God will provide for himself a lamb”—as he prepares to sacrifice him. In the end, God does spare Isaac’s life, and He reveals the reason for His odd request: He never wanted Isaac’s death—He wanted Abraham’s complete obedience. Sacrifices matter to God when they’re born out of obedience because true obedience is a faith-filled act of sacrificial love. 

Trials test the extent of our obedience by revealing what our faith is founded in. If we say we love God, but we allow our circumstances to dictate our responses to tough situations, then we have more faith in our circumstances than in our God. But, if our faith is rooted in the God who has authority over all things, then we, like Abraham, can walk into the unknown embracing the tension of believing God can restore all things—and worshiping Him even if He doesn’t.

Those that are willing to part with anything for God, shall have it made up to them with unspeakable advantage. The promise, ver. 18, doubtless points at the Messiah, and the grace of the gospel. Hereby we know the loving-kindness of God our Saviour towards sinful man, in that he hath not withheld his Son, his only Son, from us. Hereby we perceive the love of Christ, in that he gave himself a sacrifice for our sins. Yet he lives, and calls to sinners to come to him, and partake of his blood-bought salvation. He calls to his redeemed people to rejoice in him, and to glorify him. What then shall we render for all his benefits? Let his love constrain us to live not to ourselves, but to Him who died for us, and rose again. Admiring and adoring His grace, let us devote our all to his service, who laid down his life for our salvation. Whatever is dearest to us upon earth is our Isaac. And the only way for us to find comfort in an earthly thing, is to give it by faith into the hands of God. Bible Hub

“Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading.” – Oswald Chambers