Daily Bread: Faith That Trusts God Beyond What the Eyes Can See

😇 Shalom to all.
God’s word today:

“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.”
‭‭(Hebrews‬ ‭11‬:‭17‬-‭19‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

Biblical faith is trusting God when His command seems impossible to reconcile with His promise.

God had promised Abraham that his descendants would come through Isaac (Genesis 17:19; 21:12). Yet now God commanded Abraham to offer Isaac.

Faith trusts God’s promise even when circumstances seem contradictory – inside heart and mind “Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead.”

This is remarkable.
Because Genesis 22 does not explicitly record Abraham saying, “God will raise Isaac from the dead.” But in the New Testament, book of Hebrews gives us insight into: what Abraham was thinking and believing in his heart.
Somehow Abraham knew that: God is powerful enough to fulfill His promise—even if fulfillment requires raising the dead.

At that spiritual conclusion, Abraham had effectively surrendered Isaac to God, and God stopped him before Isaac was killed (Genesis 22:10–12). That is why book of Hebrews says: “and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.”

Abraham’s faith in God’s promise and God’s power enabled him to see beyond the immediate situation. And Genesis 22 ultimately points beyond Isaac. Abraham said: “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering…”(Gen. 22:8). And God did provide a ram (Gen.22:13).

But there is also a profound theological picture here: God did not ultimately require Abraham to give his son, but God Himself would one day give His own Son.
Romans 8:32 says: “He-God-who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all…”

Isaac becomes, in a limited typological sense, a picture pointing toward Christ:
* Isaac carried the wood (Genesis 22:6); Christ carried the cross.
* Isaac was Abraham’s beloved son; Jesus is the beloved Son of the Father.
* Isaac was figuratively received back from death; Christ was actually raised from the dead.

So Abraham’s faith was not only helping him survive a difficult test. God was bringing Abraham into a deeper revelation of His redemptive plan.

There are moments when God’s promise and our circumstances seem to contradict each other.

Sometimes God allows us to stand in situations where we cannot understand how He will fulfill what He has promised.

* Faith does not require us to know the whole plan.
* Faith requires us to trust the One who knows the whole plan.

And sometimes, when we trust Him, God gives us spiritual understanding that we could never have received by human reasoning alone.

Ask yourself:
* Is there a promise of God that seems impossible because of my present circumstances?
* Am I willing to trust God’s power and faithfulness more than what my eyes can see?

Your circumstances may be beyond your understanding, but they are never beyond God’s power.

Prayer:
God our Father, teach me the faith of Abraham. When Your promise seems impossible and my circumstances seem to contradict what You have spoken, help me not to lean on my limited understanding. Open my spiritual eyes to see beyond what I can see naturally. Let faith in Your promises and confidence in Your power shape my mind and guard my heart. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Bless you
ps caleblusi