As a kid, I never thought I could be Superman. Superman
stories are exciting, and I liked imagining running super fast or jumping super
high or flying; but even as a child I knew super-powers were impossible.
Superman was a super-man and not just-a-human like me.
As a young Christian, I knew I didn’t have super-faith. I
loved hearing stories about people God called to exotic places and people, or
who planted churches in desperate and desolate areas, but I was barely able to
curtail my swearing or stop being obsessed with finding a boyfriend. Giving up
everything I knew for Him was inconceivable. People who lived their lives out
on the edge of faith seemed to have super-faith. My faith had no cape.
If foreign missionaries have super-faith, Abraham seems
to have super-mutant-faith. Pastor Ricardo preached from Genesis 22 this week, where
God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. How could I ever have faith like that?!
My faith has grown from its early, tenuous state; the
longer I walk with God, the deeper my trust and belief, and I can say yes when
He calls me to challenging things. Still, I think I would come up short if God
said, “Robin…I need you to sacrifice you daughter, Matilda, to me.” It wouldn’t
be the quick obedience we see from Abraham! I look around for his cape, wondering
how he could agree to sacrifice his son; how could he be a regular guy who believes
God the same way I try to?
Out of context, Abraham might look like a superhero, but
in context, he looks like a normal, fallen, messed up human who is stumbling
forward as he learns to trust God more. The rest of Abraham’s story (which you
can find starting in Genesis 12), reminds us that Abraham was a real man; he
believed God and acted in faith, but at times he stumbled around like the rest
of us. He lied to try to protect his wife, and when God seemed slow, he
attempted to make God’s will happen his own way. Abraham had faith filled moments,
and moments of self-reliance. Through a lifetime of believing God, Abraham’s
faith grew and was strengthened as he acted on his belief and saw God.
Perhaps most notably, Abraham’s faith was built by God’s
amazing blessing and impossible goodness when he and Sarah gave birth to a son,
the heir God had promised. Sarah was ancient – ninety years old! – when Isaac
was born. Isaac’s birth wasn’t unlikely or improbable; it was miraculous. God
had shown Abraham more than once that He was who He said He was, and He was
able to do anything He said He would do. Every belief-fueled act of obedience
grew Abraham’s faith.
So this real man - this father who loved the only son he
had, the son who was the promise of God, and the promise of blessing for the
world – was asked by God to take that son, and sacrifice him.
And in faith, Abraham agrees:
“He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” Genesis 22:5
We will come
back, not I. Abraham believed that he AND Isaac would be returning. He had
walked with God. He knew God. God had promised that through Isaac Abraham’s
offspring would be reckoned (Genesis 21:12). Isaac was tangible proof that nothing is
impossible with God. Abraham trusted God –he had faith that whatever happened
on the mountain, he would obey, and God would provide.
Consider how Hebrews 11:17-19 explains Abraham’s
reasoning:
“By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned,” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.”
Abraham wasn’t gifted with supernatural faith to respond
in a way that we are unable. His faith had no cape. He didn’t hear God’s call out
of nowhere and then blindly wander up a mountain wondering what would happen
next. Abraham had walked with God for years; he knew his God. He knew his God was bigger than he could imagine; God
had already done impossible things in Abraham’s life.
So Abraham obeyed.
And the Lord provided.
This story is about the faith of a regular human, but the
power and faithfulness of a limitless God.
God provided the sacrifice; God credited Abraham’s faith-filled
actions as righteous. God made a way to spare Isaac’s life through the death of
another. God showed Himself on the mountain top. Galatians 3:8 says that He
preached the gospel to Abraham: a Father with only One Son, whom He loved, would
sacrifice that Son so that many lives would be saved; blessing would come to
the nations through Abraham’s offspring when Christ tasted death for everyone
to bring His many sons and daughters to glory. (Hebrews 2:9-10)
Abraham’s faith was not super hero faith. Abraham’s God
was the superpower God.
We don’t need super-faith to be like Abraham; we need to
know our God, and walk with Him. When we know Him, we will believe Him for
things only He can do.
[Robin Bupp is married to Caleb, and they are from many places east of the Mississippi (but are calling Michigan home for the foreseeable future). A former high school science teacher, Robin is slowly turning the two Bupp kiddos into tiny nerds while they teach her lots of things, especially humility and patience.]
No comments:
Post a Comment