Lent Reflection, Day 21, March 24

By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, of whom he had been told, “It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you.” He considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead—and figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
Hebrews 11:17-19

Additional Reading: Mark 14:53-65

Being a follower of Jesus means our faith is constantly being put on trial – being tested. Being put through the fire. But it is not for the purpose of exposing hidden flaws or of finding cracks in the armor. It is more about actually trying to strengthen it and develop it.

The lessons of faith learned at one level are intended to lift us to a new measure of trust at the next new level. Sometimes, like Abraham, the biggest tests come early. And other times, in his infinite kindness, the Father starts with simpler lessons and builds us up to where he can challenge us to trust him for far greater things. Our growing personal experience of God’s faithfulness is intended to build us forward to greater steps of faith.

It seems Abraham was ready to believe something that was not only impossible but something that in recorded history had never happened before or even been suggested as a way in which God might work. For us, we have the track record of Scripture, church history, and Christian biography to encourage our faith and give us hope that goes beyond our often limited view of God’s ways. Even when those ways have us in a place that feels like the Sanhedrin’s courts of Mark 14. Even when it seems that the way of Jesus bring us only difficulty and trial. Even when it feels like God no longer loves us.

And that faith journey begins with a resurrection. As with Abraham, and the “figurative” resurrection he witnessed, so for us it’s Jesus’ first, then our own. His, on that first Easter. Ours, out of the deadness of our sin and by faith into the fullness of his resurrection life. But never forget that the birth of faith is not the end of its development. Tests will come to it. Trials will prove its strength. And these will come not because He has stopped loving us or doesn’t notice the pain; but because he loves us too much to let us settle for a life too small to make a difference with.

Prayer: Father, I’m not Abraham and I am certainly not Jesus. But I want to be a candidate for great exploits of faith. So don’t give up on me. Strengthen me, in the inner person, by your Spirit. Please make me a person of growing faith. Amen.