 | CLM-0-063 s When God Doesn't Make Sense |
From: "Clergy Mail List"
Wed, 29 Mar 2000
Clergy/Leaders' Mail-list No. 0-063 (Sermon/notes)
WHEN GOD DOESN'T MAKE SENSE (Genesis 22:1-18)
by Wayne Dobratz
22:1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him,
"Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. 2 Then God said, "Take
your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the
region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on
one of the mountains I will tell you about." (NIV)
It's one of the signals in the Bible that God has something special
planned. When you're reading through the Bible and you notice that
names are specifically mentioned or changed, then you need to get
out your high lighter. Something is about to happen and you need to
take notice of it.
When God sent the prophet to go ahead of Jesus, he specified that
his name be JOHN. "John" means "God is gracious." You remember the
angel told Joseph, "You shall call his name Jesus, for He will save
His people from their sins."
Two of the main characters in today's text had special names too.
Abraham used to be called Abram. "Abraham" means "Father of all
nations." Isaac means "laughter."
Let's review the promise that God made to Abram when he was the age
of most nursing home residents:
Genesis 12:1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country,
your people and your father's household and go to the land I
will show you. 2 "I will make you into a great nation and I
will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a
blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever
curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be
blessed through you." 4 So Abram left, as the LORD had told
him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old
when he set out from Haran.
"I will make you into a great nation."--But Abram and Sarah don't
have even one child, just how are they supposed to have enough
descendants to make up a nation? Good question. It's a question
that guides us in those times when there are more questions than
answers--during those times WHEN GOD DOESN'T MAKE SENSE.
I don't have to review the WHY QUESTIONS for you.
You've asked them often and so have I. You're probably still
waiting for some of the answers. Here's the first thing you do
when God doesn't make sense. You walk with him anyway.
Abram and Sarah left behind a very comfortable life in Ur. You can
imagine the conversation: "Abe, are you sure that God told us we
had to leave? Where are we going? All of our friends are here." "I
don't know where we're going, Sarah, just finish the packing so we
can get started."
This is one of the greatest examples of faithful obedience to God
in the whole Bible. It is specifically mentioned on Abraham's
plaque in the Hall of Fame of Faith. We read in Heb. 11:
8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would
later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though
he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his
home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign
country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were
heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking
forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and
builder is God.
When Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90, they had a son.
They named Isaac, which means "laughter." It points to the joyful
laughter of an old man and his 90 year old wife having a child
according to God's promise.
This too is mentioned on that plaque in the Hall of Fame:
Hebrews 11:11 By faith Abraham, even though he was past
age--and Sarah herself was barren--was enabled to become a
father because he considered him faithful who had made the
promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead,
came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as
countless as the sand on the seashore.
There was another test of faith coming concerning this son of
laughter. Father Abraham wasn't laughing when the Lord spoke to him
again. Look at the text with me now, beginning with the first verse:
22:1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him,
"Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. 2 Then God said, "Take
your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the
region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on
one of the mountains I will tell you about." 3 Early the next
morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him
two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough
wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had
told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw
the place in the distance.
When God doesn't make sense, you walk with him. You walk with him
because
YOU TRUST THAT HE KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING.
I don't have to explain to you how hard this can be. We like to
manage our own lives and we are hauled up short when it doesn't
work out that way. It might happen when the Doctor finds a lump you
didn't know you had, or when your blood count isn't right. You may
not like what's happening but you trust that God knows what he is
doing.
Now think through what must have been going through Abraham's mind.
He trusts the promises of God so much that he obeys and makes
preparations to sacrifice his son, even though he knows that God
has forbidden human sacrifice. Notice what he tells his servants.
It indicates that he trusts God even though none of this makes any
sense at all. Look at the last part of the 4th paragraph with me
now: 5 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."
Digest this for a moment. God tells him to sacrifice his son. He
has all the equipment along that he needs to obey this bloody
command. He has the knife, he has the wood and he has the rope with
which to tie his son. But he knows that God has a plan and he
promises his servants: "We'll be back."
Now that's faith! Deep faith, strong faith, faith that trusts God,
especially when nothing makes much sense. The article under
Abraham's Name in the Hall of Fame goes on to explain:
Heb. 11:17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered
Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was
about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God
had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will
be reckoned." 19 Abraham reasoned that God could raise the
dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back
from death.
You have to have faith WHEN GOD DOESN'T MAKE SENSE.
You see, faith needs to be tested and strengthened. It's like an
airplane being put through its paces in flight tests. When you test
it by staking your life on it, you find out where it is weak and
where it is strong, and how it can be improved. That's how it is
with faith.
When God doesn't make sense, you have to wait to see his promises
kept. Look at Par. 5ff with me now:
5 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." 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt
offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself
carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on
together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham,
"Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and wood
are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt
offering?" 8 Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the
lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went
on together. 9 When they reached the place God had told him
about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on
it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top
of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the
knife to slay his son.
If you've had some tough tests in your life, look at this one! What
would have done? Don't forget, Isaac's faith is being tested too.
This lays the foundation for his future as the Father of Israel.
Abraham was willing to sacrifice the son of promise because he knew
that God keeps his promise and that God could raise the dead. He
passed the test of faith with flying colors because he trusted God
and he obeyed God.
Small wonder that he became known as the "Father of all believers."
In his one descendant, Jesus Christ, all the nations of the world
are being blessed. Pick up the reading of the text where we left
off:
11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven,
"Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. 12 "Do not lay a
hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I
know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me
your son, your only son." 13 Abraham looked up and there in a
thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and
took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of
his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The LORD Will
Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the
LORD it will be provided."
The ram caught in the thicket is a picture of Jesus, our Substitute
Sacrifice. Abraham took the ram caught by its horns and sacrificed
it in the place of his son.
That's just what our Heavenly Father did for you and me. He
substituted His Son on the cross for sinful mankind. He was
"crucified for our offenses," the Bible says. "The Lord has laid on
him the iniquity of us all."
Michael Card sings: "God will provide the Lamb to be offered up in
your place/a sacrifice so spotless and clean to take all our sins
away." To this day that place is called Mt. Moriah. Moriah means
"On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided."
Finally, when God doesn't make sense, look forward to the reward He
has promised in His grace. Look at the final paragraph with me now:
15 The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a
second time 16 and said, "I swear by myself, declares the
LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld
your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make
your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as
the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take
possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through
your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because
you have obeyed me."
God never promised that everything would make sense in the here and
now. Some things won't make sense until we can look back on the
whole picture. Only then will we understand what God was doing and
why.
God keeps His promises. We are saved only by His grace, through
faith, but he always rewards the good works we do in faith, as His
Holy Spirit leads. Maybe the tough times he is allowing you to
endure now are preparing you for something else, something you
can't even imagine right now, something you wouldn't be ready for
without the strength you faith is receiving in the tests he sends
your way.
An evangelist tells this story: I have a friend who lost his job,
his fortune, his wife and his home. But he still held on to his
faith. It was the only thing he had left.
One day he stopped to watch some men building a stone church. One
of them was chiseling a triangular piece of rock. "What are you
going to do with that?" the man asked. The workman said: "Do you
see that little opening way up there near the spire? Well, I'm
shaping this down here so that it will fit up there."
Tears filled the eyes of the heart-broken man as he walked away. It
seemed that God had spoken through the construction worker to
explain the ordeal he was going through.
Whatever your troubles, trials, tribulations and tests in this
life, understand that your life is under the hand of your Heavenly
Father, who is shaping you down here so that you fit up there.
Brothers and sisters, take comfort from these words in the name of
Jesus, our Savior. Amen.
- Wayne Dobratz |
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