According to the Oxford dictionary the definition of faith is “to have complete trust in someone or something.”
Notice how it says ‘Complete trust’, let me just say this before we start. Do you have ‘Complete trust’ in God? With everything that goes on in your life that may seem bad and unrepairable, do you have ‘complete trust’ in God?
Before I found the Lord again, I very often worried about the current situation, or how something was going to turn out. I used to dwell on the past too. I used to say to myself, “If only I had done things differently!” Does all of this sound familiar?
Now I worry less and I am more focused. I mean if God didn’t care about us, then why did He sacrifice His only son for us? If God didn’t care, then the death of Jesus was worthless.
I’m going to mainly focus on Genesis as I deliver this message to you, because I think there is a lot about faith and obedience in the book of Genesis.
Abraham’s Faith
Okay, so I’m going to start with Abraham. So go to the book of Genesis with me, and go to Chapter 22. Here we see that God is actually testing Abraham’s faith by telling Abraham to sacrifice his only son to God. ‘Then 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.”‘ Now, I don’t know about you, but that is a huge ask! Would you sacrifice your only son? The very son that you have been praying for all of your life? Nope, probably not. I think the first thing you’d do is say to God, “Erm God, are you sure that was meant for me?” You’d definitely be questioning God!
But, does Abraham question God? No! Abraham just gets up early the next morning and does as God commanded!
Abraham & the Altar
Abraham went to the place of which God had told him to go. Isaac carried the wood used to burn the offering (Isaac had no idea that he was going to be the offering). Abraham put Isaac on the altar and was about to slay Isaac with a knife, and just at that moment in 22:11, it says ‘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.”‘
Abraham shows how faithful he is to God, and how much he trusts in Him. How often do we see faith like this? I don’t mean for you to go and kill your son! But having true faith in the Lord is something that we all need as Christians! Just a quick note, I will be working on prophecy of Jesus in Genesis. So these specific verses will be in that post too.
So what happened after all of this? Well, we see that Abraham passed the test of faithfulness.
‘Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord , because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son – blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.’
Genesis 22:17
Wow! So God rewarded Abraham for his faithfulness in Him! Does God keep His promises? Yes! Does He still make promises like this today? Yes!
Think about it. The Lord our God is faithful to us, but are we faithful to Him? Out of love He gave us life, out of love He gave His son Jesus Christ for you and me. God wants us to be His friend, He wants to be your father. He wants to bless you, and make you live a happy life. Will you let Him? Spend some time in prayer with Him. Thank Him for the life He has give you. Let Him in your life, because He wants to be in it.
Joseph
Moving on now to a character that really is faithful to God, and should be an inspiration to us all is Joseph. Joseph was the son of Jacob, and was one of 12 sons. Joseph’s other brothers were jealous of him and ended up selling Joseph as a slave, but they told their father Jacob that he was killed by a beast. Things aren’t looking great for Joseph are they? Did he complain? No! Did he question God? No! After a while Joseph was sent to prison after being accused of rape (which he did not commit), God stayed faithful to Joseph and vice versa. Joseph later went on to being one of the most important people in the land of Egypt. Why? Because he remained faithful to God no matter how bad the circumstances were.
‘Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.’
What a terrible thing! Being sold by your own brothers! Not being able to see your father again! The tides change though. Joseph doesn’t complain to God about how bad his circumstances are. Joseph just remains faithful to God, and later becomes the second in command in Egypt, and he gets to see his father and his brothers again! And Joseph is given land by Pharaoh for his family!
Conclusion
Reading about this is really inspiring. We often are in situations where we feel we are being punished for unjust reasons. Sometimes we are put in bad situations so God can see how faithful we are to Him, just like Abraham, Joseph, Job and many more. Give thanks to God even in the bad situations, because He has got plans for you. Yes just for you! He loves you just as much as He loves anyone else! Pray to Him. He wants you to reach out to Him. I promise you, that if you stay faithful to Him and thank Him, you won’t be the same person you were before. You will be filled with the spirit, and your life will be transformed!