A Ram of Substitute
Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. (Genesis 22:13)
God had given Abraham an almost impossible test. He asked Abraham to sacrifice his only legitimate son, the one God had promised him, and still trust that God would make his descendants as numerous as the stars through this same son. And even though it probably didn’t make sense to Abraham, Abraham went ahead with God’s request, trusting that God would keep his promises.
Abraham did as God asked him by faith. He could have listened to Satan tell him that it didn’t make sense. That if he sacrificed Isaac, he wouldn’t have any descendants. That Isaac was more important than obeying God. But Abraham didn’t listen to Satan, and as he was preparing to sacrifice Isaac on that altar, God stopped him. Instead, he provided a ram in Isaac’s place.
God asks us to trust him as Abraham did. We don’t have to understand what God is doing, we just have to trust him through faith. And yet Satan comes to us and tries to convince us that it has to make sense. He tries to get us to doubt that God really works all things for our good. He tries to convince us that we need to worry or protect what is ours at all costs. He works to create a distrust of God in us. And sometimes, he does.
But just as God provided the ram in Isaac’s place, so he provided Jesus in our place. Jesus resisted Satan’s temptations in our place. He defeated Satan for us, and he offered up himself as our sacrifice, once for all people, for all sins. And he gives us the strength to trust God as Abraham did. Amen.
Our song for today is “God Will Provide a Lamb” by Sally DeFord feat. Heather Prusse