Tuesday May 28, 2024

Genesis 22:2
He [God] said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go
to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one
of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

Abraham was sustained under the trial by the conviction that it was possible for God to raise his son from the dead, and so to fulfil his promise. But under that and lower down, there was in Abraham’s heart the conviction that by some means, if not by that means, God would justify him in doing what he was to do, that it could never be wrong to do what God commanded him, that God could not command him to do a wrong thing, and, therefore, that doing it he could not possibly suffer the loss of the promise made in regard to Isaac. In some way or other God would take care of him if he did but faithfully keep to God. And I think the more indistinct Abraham’s idea may have been of the way in which God could carry out the promise, the more glorious was the faith which still held to it that nothing could frustrate the promise, and that he would do his duty, come what may. Brethren beloved in the Lord, believe that all things work together for your good, and that if you are commanded by conscience and God’s word to do that which would beggar you or cast you into disrepute, it cannot be a real hurt to you; it must be all right. I have seen men cast out of work owing to their keeping the Lord’s Day, or they have been for a little time out of a situation because they could not fall into the tricks of trade, and they have suffered awhile; but, alas, some of them have lost heart after a time and yielded to the evil. O for the faith which never will fly from the field under any persuasion or compulsion. If men had strength enough to say, ‘If I die and rot, I will not sin; if they cast me out, yet nothing shall make me violate my conscience, or do what God commands me not to do, or fail to do what God commands me to perform!’ Such was the faith of Abraham.

C. H. Spurgeon and Terence Peter Crosby, 365 Days with Spurgeon (Volume 1) (Day One Publications, 1998)
Scripture for opening text taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.