(Genesis 22:1)
When you look at the beginning of History, the History of the people of God, we begin by looking at Genesis. And looking through Genesis, ultimately we must look at the father of faith - Abraham. With Abraham, God opened up an amazing History which ultimately led to David and through to Jesus Christ, our Saviour. Looking at the beginning of this History, we can learn how it all began. How was it that God was able to begin the recovery of fallen man?
The answer is through Faith.
Man lost their faith in God but God tries to restore; through these tests we can see how God seeks to recover us. However, these are not easy tests. Looking at it logically, the command to take your Son, your only Son and Sacrifice him. This is a horrible test to endure.
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"
(Genesis 22:2)
However, we come to know that this is a test that cannot be analysed by reasoning. God wants to recover our faith, he wants us to know his Love and accept his Love. There could be no other way. 'Righteousness comes through faith' - and the disciples knew this well:
"These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine"
(1 Peter 1:7)
We all wish to be genuine before God. Love is something that is pure and simple, but must be practiced in spirit and in truth. We believe in God, we say we Love God, and we wish to reveal and testify this Love to the World. Then what is it we must learn? It is faith.
God wants to see our recovered Faith in His Love.
Knowing that God loves me, knowing that God has always loved me, and will always love me, this is Faith. This is what God wants to see. The next time you feel that God has abandoned you, try to pause and think a little. Would God be happy to see me despairing? Or is there something deeper? Through these trials and tests, we are being molded into a more precious and perfect image - a faithful and true image of God. The Bible opens our eyes to a deeper world of Love that God has for his people, in all that He does, all that he has spoken, all that he has given us, throughout this, there is an underlying principle of God's Love - his endless work to restore his people's faith that began all that time ago with Abraham, and now rests on us!