Digging Deeper – Tested Faith Leads to Stronger Faith
17 It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, 18 even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.” 19 Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.
Hebrews 11:17-19 (NLT)
TESTED FAITH LEADS TO STRONGER FAITH
We looked yesterday at the chinks in Abram’s armor that led to some detours for him and Sarai as they awaited God’s promised son. But we learned that God’s ultimate goal for Abraham was to build his faith muscles by showing Himself trustworthy. And it’s His primary goal for us as well. Faith trumps everything else in God’s economy.
So, if faith is paramount, how do we attain it?
The author of Hebrews defined faith. In fact, it’s the only place we can find a definition of faith in Scripture:
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 (ESV)
Read that a few times. Marinate on it. Assurance and conviction – these are not arbitrary words. Here’s what the footnote says in my study Bible:
“The author indicates that biblical faith is not vague hope grounded in imaginary, wishful thinking. Instead, faith is a settled confidence that something in the future – something that is not yet seen but has been promised by God – will actually come to pass because God will bring it about.”
I love that explanation. But it doesn’t make faith any easier just to know what it means. The only thing that makes it easier is for God to test it. Repeatedly.
God has a track record. Sure, we can read all about it and see how He delivered time and again in the lives of some of the greatest men and women in Scripture: David, Daniel, Esther, Nehemiah, Joseph, and Paul. But we don’t develop faith by reading about it. My faith only develops by living it out, particularly amid challenging circumstances.
God tested Abraham’s faith by asking him to sacrifice Isaac. Yes, the same (and only) son he and Sarah waited 25 years for! Yet, Abraham was obedient. How could he possibly have known that God would spare Isaac? Because over the course of more than a century, Abraham had seen God come through in countless ways. He didn’t know exactly how it would play out, but he knew God wasn’t a liar. And, if God had promised that Abraham’s descendants would be more numerous than the stars, Isaac would live.
Faith isn’t knowing exactly how things are going to work out. It’s not seeing the finished product. It’s trusting the One who holds you in the palm of His hand. It begins with trusting Him with your heart. It grows as we are refined through adversity, leaning on Him when we can’t see what lies ahead.
C.A. Phillips serves as Communications Pastor and Director of Men’s Groups at NorthStar Church. He is a graduate of the Henry W. Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia, and he loves the Dawgs and the Atlanta Braves. He has two (grown) boys and lives in Kennesaw with his wife, Amy, and their German Shepherd, Abby.
