Word@Work James22 - James 2:20-22
Published: Wed, 03/11/09
Word@Work from BeaconLight
TRUST GOD EVEN WHEN IT SEEMS RIDICULOUS
James 2:20-22 You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. (NIV)
Would you obey God, even if that would ruin everything that you have lived for? Abraham did (cf Gen 22:1-19)! To hold a miracle baby at age 100, and then to agree to sacrifice his life as a young teenager, made no sense at all. Of course, God did not want Abraham to kill his own son. But Isaac represented God's blessing to Abraham after a century of pain and grief; and all his hopes, and the future blessings of God to the world were embedded in that boy. Previously, Abraham had a mixed history of faith in God, and he got some things almost catastrophically wrong - so the command to make an offering of his son to God was a real test.
In the event, just at the last minute, God stopped Abraham, and a ram became the substitute sacrifice: just as 2000 years later, Jesus the Lamb of God became the substitute sacrifice for our sins. But Abraham was not to know that, as father and son walked up the hill to the place of sacrifice (interestingly on the same mount where Jesus was later to die instead of us). Abraham's faith was seen because he accepted what God said, and set out to obey (just as Jesus obeyed Father God). But if he had not climbed the hill with the boy, and prepared the altar, his faith would have been a delusion and not real at all.
The Lord allows our faith in him to be challenged, so that it might be tested and found genuine. Our response to injustice in the workplace and to persecution, will either validate or deny our faith. So too is the Lord's habit of loosening our grip on some things that have become part of our identity: our home, our relationships, our money or our job. The response of faith is to say, "Yes" to God, even though we cannot make any sense of it. Faith always trusts that God is right in what he allows, and faith allows other people and things to be secondary to whatever God may choose.
Prayer: Father God. Even though I do not understand or even see any logic of what You allow, I will accept it and obey because You are God. For Jesus' sake. Amen.
You can read the verses around this Bible passage from the Internet Bible: - in English, and many other languages
Would you obey God, even if that would ruin everything that you have lived for? Abraham did (cf Gen 22:1-19)! To hold a miracle baby at age 100, and then to agree to sacrifice his life as a young teenager, made no sense at all. Of course, God did not want Abraham to kill his own son. But Isaac represented God's blessing to Abraham after a century of pain and grief; and all his hopes, and the future blessings of God to the world were embedded in that boy. Previously, Abraham had a mixed history of faith in God, and he got some things almost catastrophically wrong - so the command to make an offering of his son to God was a real test.
In the event, just at the last minute, God stopped Abraham, and a ram became the substitute sacrifice: just as 2000 years later, Jesus the Lamb of God became the substitute sacrifice for our sins. But Abraham was not to know that, as father and son walked up the hill to the place of sacrifice (interestingly on the same mount where Jesus was later to die instead of us). Abraham's faith was seen because he accepted what God said, and set out to obey (just as Jesus obeyed Father God). But if he had not climbed the hill with the boy, and prepared the altar, his faith would have been a delusion and not real at all.
The Lord allows our faith in him to be challenged, so that it might be tested and found genuine. Our response to injustice in the workplace and to persecution, will either validate or deny our faith. So too is the Lord's habit of loosening our grip on some things that have become part of our identity: our home, our relationships, our money or our job. The response of faith is to say, "Yes" to God, even though we cannot make any sense of it. Faith always trusts that God is right in what he allows, and faith allows other people and things to be secondary to whatever God may choose.
Prayer: Father God. Even though I do not understand or even see any logic of what You allow, I will accept it and obey because You are God. For Jesus' sake. Amen.
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