Un/Belief – “Faith and Tough Tests” 

In this series, we’ve defined faith as “living out what you believe.” Our faith can (and should) grow, and that happens first through understanding, then conviction, then finally when we make a commitment and take a step of faith to live out what we believe to be true. We’ve been talking about the faith story of Abraham for the last couple of weeks, and this week we look at the most challenging episode in that story – where we’ll see how life’s toughest tests can grow our faith like nothing else can.

1.  My Faith Grows When It’s Tested (Hebrews 11:17-18)

• A most unusual episode in Genesis tells the story of Abraham’s greatest test of faith. When his son, Isaac – the one through whom God had promised to make “a great nation” – was a young man, God told Abraham to take him up on a mountain and kill him – as a sacrifice to God. Abraham (and apparently Isaac…) agreed, and almost completes the act before God intervenes.
• Clearly, the episode is first and foremost a picture – a foreshadowing – of God’s coming sacrifice of his own son, Jesus. But it’s also a lesson about faith and testing. Hebrews 11 makes it clear that God was testing Abraham’s faith – because God knows that our faith grows the most when it is tested. Tests show us where we’re weak and lack understanding, and then they force us to step up and step out. 
• Pastor Tim Keller said this: “A test of faith comes when the command of God seems to contradict the promise of God.” Our tests of faith most often come when we’re forced to decide whether we’re going to trust God and obey his commands or give in to our own desires and temptations.

2. My Faith Is Bold What It Has Reasons  (Hebrews 11:19)
   
   • Hebrews 11:19 helps us understand what Abraham may have been thinking as he prepared to sacrifice Isaac – and it takes us back to the first step in the faith-growth process: understanding. Hebrews tells us that “Abraham reasoned…”; he thought through the situation and found a way to logically reconcile God’s command and God’s promise (“God was able to bring him back to life…”).
   • Our faith becomes bold when we have reasons for it – i.e., logical confidence in what God is doing based on what we know to be true about him and his character. And that bold faith grows best when it is tested by trials that can only be endured by faith.
   • We all make backup plans as we go through life, making sure that if something goes wrong we’ll have a way to prevent disaster. In fact, most of us have so much “backup” that we rarely need to count on God’s provision – so we never really trust in God until we have to. Our inability then becomes our opportunity for faith, so our hard tests become gifts – chances to grow our life-giving trust in God.
   • The question that Abraham faced is the question we all face in our trials and temptations: do we trust God enough to surrender (sacrifice…) the things that are most precious to us – our desires, our “backup plans,” our dreams – with confidence that when we do, he will “resurrect” our sacrifice in a new and wonderful way? Only then – only by following his commands and calling – will we realize the true promise he has for our lives and experience the full life that he offers us.

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE

These passages may provide additional insights related to the subject of this week’s message. All verses are NLT unless otherwise noted.

Genesis 22:1-14; Jeremiah 17:5-8; Matthew 4:1-11; Romans 5:3-5; Hebrews 4:14-16; James 1:2-4

Video of the Week: The Test by the Bible Project

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

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1. Read Genesis 22:1-14. Do you find this story of Abraham’s greatest trial to be disturbing? Why or why not? 

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2. Does knowing that Isaac was a young man at the time – perhaps a teenager or even older – make a difference in how you think about the story?  Explain your answer.

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3. The Bible speaks of “tests,” “trials” and “temptations” as all being realities we face in life – situations which God will use to grow our faith.  How would you define each of those words in that context?

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4. What’s your response to Pastor Tim’s Keller’s assertion that “A test of faith comes when the command of God seems to contradict the promise of God.”?  Has that been your experience when your faith has been tested?  

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5. Have you ever faced a situation in which your only option was to trust that God would provide a way out?  If so, what understanding (reason) about God did you lean on to give you that trust in him?

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6. What’s something that’s “precious” in your life right now – a pleasure, a habit, a “backup plan” – that God might be calling you to surrender because it’s standing between you and the full life he promises?

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