Devotionals @ The Mount Church

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 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.” Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

Genesis 22: 1-12

When you think about this passage, what comes to mind? For Abraham, who loved his son and surely didn’t want to sacrifice his son to God, it must have seemed extraordinarily unfair for God to ask this of him. But no dissent from Abraham is mentioned here. The passage simply progresses straight from God’s command in Verse 2 to Abraham’s action in Verse 3.

This is the ultimate picture of, not only trust in God, but maturity in God. How giant Abraham’s faith must have been to get to the point where he took his son to the place of sacrifice, bound him, placed him on the altar and took out the very blade that would have caused him so much sorrow had God not intervened.

But we see here that God did intervene, and he intervened at the point where Abraham’s faith and trust in God was at its peak. His response, and God’s, can be attributed to a lifetime or learning, growing and maturing in the Lord.

By Chapter 24, the Bible says Abraham was, “now old and well advanced in years, and the LORD had blessed him in every way.”

Through Abraham, we see that an obedient life following God’s commandments and his will leads to spiritual maturity, and our spiritual maturity is a testament to our obedient hearts for him.
But it certainly doesn’t start there. For most of us, the road to spiritual maturity spans a lifetime. Hebrews 5 outlines the progression that most of us take, from having to be fed the word by others as young Christian to desiring to teach and grow ourselves, exhibited by the symbolism of moving from drinking milk as an infant to eating solid food as maturity blossoms.

And daily obedience to God’s commandments helps us grow deeper in our walk. In 1 John 2:3-6, the Bible gives us a simple benchmark to be able to know whether we are truly one of his: Do we live as Christ did, seeking forgiveness for our sins and God’s will for our lives? Daily Bible reading and prayer are necessities for any Christian seeking to grow deeper in Him, but it shouldn’t stop there. Our lives should exude the nature of Christ, not just when we are having alone time with God, but when we are going about our daily lives.

Prayer
I know I may not be where I want to be in my walk with you yet, but I pray that you would continue to help me grow in my faith and maturity in you. Help me to be obedient in my walk, to read the Bible daily, and to share my faith with those around me. Thank you for the example of faith that Abraham set, and I pray that I would exhibit just a fraction of his enormous trust in you. Thank you for saving me, and help me to be in the center of your will every day. In Christ’s name…