We can talk a good game about how we love God all day long, but if we do not have faith, it is impossible to please God. Often we think what we lack is resources, but what we really lack is faith in God and his power and abilities. We may love God, but do we trust him with everything and to do the impossible in our lives? We learn from the story of Abraham and his journey up the mountain with his son Isaac that God will require us to ‘put up or shut up’ when it comes to making decisions that require faith and trusting God.
God said to Abraham: “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you,” Genesis 22:2. What an awful and difficult command God gave Abraham—to offer his son, born under the covenant, as a sacrifice. But Abraham went forth with what God had said. He prepared to make the sacrifice with knife in hand. But an angel spoke to Abraham to stop, and directed him toward a ram in the bush that had been caught in the thicket of the branches. Abraham had great faith. Great faith enables us to obey God. It requires faith to meet God’s request, and to know that whatever God asks us to sacrifice he will provide a ram in the bush. God had no intentions of Abraham sacrificing Isaac. God knew all along that he would provide a ram in the bush. God did not want Isaac; he wanted Abraham’s faith.
We must have faith to act on God’s direction, not our fleshly desires. When God sees our faith in action, he will provide a ram in the bush. For most of us, our faith does not even allow us to take minor steps for God. Instead of walking with Isaac and trusting God, we live in fear. We never see the ram in the bush—God’s glory and power. We are so busy controlling the outcome, we never see God’s plan for Isaac. The truth is God is faithful. God will provide. As we approach our situations that require us to sacrifice our money, time, our goals, and agenda—remember that God has a ram in the bush.
Whatever he requires us to do, he will provide for us, and it will not be as hard as we thought—because there is a ram in the bush. We do not have to provide for ourselves, God will. God does not intend for us to live without Isaac—to live a life in hurt, pain, and sorrow. He has a ram in the bush that will enable us to be delivered from hurt and to live victoriously. There is a ram in the bush.
