Faithful Paradox

I recently interacted with someone who has walked away from their faith. They have endured a long season of pain and suffering and the God they thought they knew did not respond how they had hoped. This time of testing and their disappointment over what God allowed has caused their heart toward him to harden.

Times of testing can act like a press, squeezing out belief, character, or doubt that exist below the surface; things which are easily managed or ignored when life is comfortable. In his faithfulness, God walks us into seasons of testing, both to strengthen us and also to expose falsely held beliefs and ideologies. In his kindness, God also gives us examples from his word of those who endured difficulty yet remained faithful.

I have recently been reading in Genesis and came to the passage where God instructed Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac (Genesis 22). While many stories within Scripture reveal Abraham’s broken humanity and sinful tendencies, I have always found Abraham’s response remarkable when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac; he obeyed readily even though the thing God asked of him made no sense.

In the past as I have read this passage, I noticed Abraham’s obedience and trust in God’s plan. He tells the servants with him, “I and the boy will go over there and worship and come to you again” (Genesis 22:5). He seemed to expect that both he and Isaac would return after the sacrifice. I have also been struck by his confidence in God’s provision: “God will provide for himself a lamb” (Genesis 22:8). Abraham seemed sure of God’s character, even when he was unsure of God’s plan.

Because God’s word is “living and active,” we can read the same passage many times over and, with the help of the Spirit, glean new understanding each time we study (Hebrews 4:12). What stood out to me as I read this passage most recently was that God asked Abraham to do something that seemed wildly inconsistent with his own character and promises. His instruction to Abraham seemed to go against his own commands; child sacrifice was a practice God explicitly forbade (Lev. 18:21). Yet knowing God cannot lie, deceive, or move against his holiness, we must assume there is more at play than what we can initially understand.

What we see in God’s instruction to Abraham seems to show that there will be times when God asks things of his people that feel deeply confusing, yet we can be confident there is always more happening than what we can understand. We learn that God will allow trials in our lives that seem to contradict his promises, yet we can be sure he is steadfast and faithful beyond what we can see or understand in the moment. In times of testing we, like Abraham, must choose to trust God’s character, even when his plans seem inconsistent with his promises. Our obedience must be rooted in trusting who God has said he is, even when we don’t understand his plans.

When God instructed Abraham to sacrifice his son, Abraham acted in obedience despite the painful, confusing nature of the command. He did not know what God was doing, and remarkably, he did not question him. Abraham certainly knew he could ask questions of God. Just a few chapters earlier in Genesis 18, Abraham tried to bargain with God for the city of Sodom. He went back and forth with God, offering suggestions about how many righteous men it would take to save the city. Abraham knew he could talk to God about his plans, yet when God asked him to sacrifice his son, he stepped forward without questioning.

Whether Abraham believed God would provide a different way or he thought God would raise Isaac from the dead remains uncertain. What is clear, however, is that Abraham trusted God’s heart, even when he did not know the outcome. When Abraham was confronted with circumstances that seemed counter to who God claimed to be, he trusted God’s character and stepped forward in faithfulness.

If this is how God interacted with Abraham, I think it can be the same for us. Sorrows may come into our lives which make no sense. Suffering will arrive and it can be hard to believe a loving, kind God would allow such anguish. It’s easy to hope God might protect his children from certain pains.

There are times we feel confused, even deeply hurt by what God allows in our lives. In times of heartache, we may feel abandoned by God; even betrayed. We may feel disappointed with his care and when our expectations of how we thought God would provide are not met, doubts can begin to creep in. When our realities seem vastly different from what we thought we understood of God, it’s easy to become confused or disillusioned about the God we thought we knew.

In these moments of testing, it is not surprising why some walk away. They were confronted with a God that asked something of them which challenged their understanding of who they thought he was. Yet, the painful reality is that the testing was actually proven effective: the pressing exposed a faulty foundation and belief system.

Abraham had no idea what God was doing when he asked him to lay his son on the altar, yet the testing he experienced revealed a sure and steadfast faith in the character of God, despite circumstances which made no sense. As God allowed Abraham to be pressed, he could not have known his obedience was shaping him in real time to be an archetype of the One Who Was to Come. He did not know that God’s instruction to him was a symbolic picture of substitution for a beloved Son. He did not see that as Isaac carried wood up the hill, a future Son would carry a wooden cross up a hill. He did not know the ram God provided in the thicket as a substitute was a picture of the Lamb who would become God’s substitutionary atonement for all mankind.

All these truths were wrapped up within in God’s command to Abraham and he understood none of them. What he did understand was that his Father could be trusted. He rested in God’s faithfulness, even in the midst of deep confusion; even when God’s leading and instruction seemed to contradict the promises God had made.

Enduring faith trusts the character of God, even when his actions defy logic. Lasting faith believes who God says he is, even when experiences suggest otherwise. Sincere faith accepts that we cannot see the full picture. We can be certain, however, that we have a faithful God who knows and understands every aspect of what he is doing. He sees the beginning, the end, and everything in-between.

Trusting God’s character must be the heart’s anchor for God’s children in the times when God’s plans do not make sense. There are things God allows which can feel counter to our understanding of who we thought God was. In these times of testing, we must remember God’s instruction to Abraham. It made no sense at the time. It seemed to go against what God had promised, yet God’s plan was far more intricate, beautiful, and redemptive than Abraham could have ever expected and God’s work is the same for us today. In our pain and confusion, when things simply do not make sense, there is a work of redemption we cannot yet see. God is at work and we can trust the character of the One who is writing the story, even when his plans seem inconsistent with his promises. There is redemption that is sure to come, even if we cannot begin to comprehend how at the moment.