“By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’ Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.” – Hebrews 11:17–19
Faith does not need explanation. If Abraham demanded an explanation, he never would have climbed Mount Moriah. How could the God who promised descendants through Isaac also ask for Isaac’s life? From the human perspective, the test and the promise could not coexist. Yet faith does not live on explanations. Faith lives on expectation-expectation that God will always keep His word, even if He must raise the dead to do it.
Abraham had learned over time that God’s word was unshakable. He trusted the Giver more than the gift. Isaac was the child of promise, but the promise was greater than Isaac. Abraham lifted the knife not because he understood, but because he expected God to provide, to deliver, to resurrect if necessary. Faith did not demand an answer-it demands an amen!
And in that moment, God revealed Himself as the One who provides. Isaac was spared, and Abraham received him back “as though from the dead.” This was more than a test; it was a foreshadowing. Centuries later, another Son would walk up another mountain carrying wood on His back. But this time there would be no ram in the thicket, no angel to intervene. God did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all-then raised Him from the dead, proving that expectation in God is never misplaced.
For us, the lesson is the same. Faith will face altars. We will be asked to surrender what we hold dear. Explanations will not always come. But expectation remains-expectation that God cannot fail His promise, that He can bring life from death, that His word is stronger than our understanding.
Faith does not need explanation. Faith just needs expectation.
Let’s pray-
Lord, help me to live like Abraham, trusting You when explanations are absent. Give me the courage to lay my treasures on the altar, believing that You are faithful to provide and powerful to raise. Teach me to cling not to what I see but to who You are. May my faith not rest in human logic but in divine expectation. In Jesus’ name, amen.
