Focus Verse: ‘So Abraham rose EARLY IN THE MORNING . . . and went to the place of which God had told him’, Genesis chapter 22 verse3.
Our focus verse for today comes from one of the best known incidents in the Old Testament – God testing the strength of Abraham’s faith by telling him to offer up Isaac, his only son, as a burnt offering on one of the mountains He would show him, Genesis chapter 22 verses 1-2.

Later on, in the New Testament, Jesus’ disciples asked Him to increase their faith. He surprised them by talking about having ‘faith as a mustard seed’, Matthew chapter 17 verse 20. Interestingly, the mustard seed is one of the smallest of all seeds; therefore, He was teaching them that they needed to have their faith strengthened, not increased! The question, therefore, comes to each one of us today, ‘How strong is your faith?’ Our faith needs to be tested, if it is going to be strengthened!

Abraham received amazing promises from God that called for a strong faith to believe them. The promise of a son in his old age, becoming the father of a great nation, a promised land – his faith in the possibility of these things was stretched to the limit by God. However, the command to offer Isaac as a burnt offering appeared to go against all his hopes and ambitions; yet, there is no indication that his faith wavered at any point. Clearly, he believed that the God who could give life out of the deadness of Sarah’s womb, could also raise Isaac back to life, if he was offered as a burnt offering.

WHAT AMAZING FAITH! Abraham proved that ‘Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen’, Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1.