I want to start this post off with a verse…
“Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith….” Genesis 22:1 NLT
As I have been looking at this story over the course of this year, this verse just jumped out at me along with the rest of the story. There is also another verse that we will be focusing in on a little later in the post. This was a year that tested my faith. This was a year that tested my wife’s faith.
My year started off just like the ones before it. The kids were back in school after the stint of e-learning caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. My wife and I were working. We had been able to store up quite a bit of money in our savings. Everyone was healthy. Everything was going good. Then March 23rd came along and the testing began.
On that day, I was terminated from my job. This came as a total surprise to me. I had never been terminated from a job before. I had not done anything that would have even put the idea that I might lose my job. I was told that I could gather my things and they would see me to the door. I walked to my van still in a shock. It would be good to mention here that I felt that job was a gift from God. Let me tell you why.
Seven years ago, I was working an erratic schedule. This schedule interfered a lot of the time with my ability to serve in the kid’s ministry at my church. I can remember just asking God to give me a different job so that I could serve. I asked and I asked. Finally, one Sunday morning, I was voicing my discontent with not being able to serve like I felt God wanted me to. A volunteer named Lillian overheard me. I had not been serving with her long and told me that she could possibly get me a job in the medical records department at the hospital she worked at. She told me that the job would be Monday through Friday 8am-4pm. I told her that I was definitely interested and gave her my contact information. She told me that she would see what she could do. What Lillian didn’t tell me is that she held a high position at that hospital and that me getting an interview was going to happen.
Two days later, I received a phone call from manager of the medical records department asking me to come in and fill out an application. After I filled out the application, they set up an interview with me when I turned it back in. I went the interview a few days later and the job was mine. The job was an answer to my prayer. God had come through for me.
But the loss of the same job wasn’t what I had asked for. It wasn’t in my plans. But God was taking care of me at this point too. My job loss may not have been in my plans, but it was it God’s plan. The job loss came at the right time when my wife and I had the money to be able to handle an event like that. The job loss also allowed to me see some things that I might not have had I continued employment there - like seeing that I was coming to the end of my degree and a change in career was coming anyway and that I could be a part of an internship at the church that I attend. The job loss allowed me to see that God has good plans for me and will always take care of me. However, the early stages was not where my faith would be tested.
In September, came the real faith testing. The money was running low and I faced either losing everything I thought I was in this season of life for because I would need to get a job. The reason for this was because my battle with unemployment was still going on and I had not heard anything in a while. The money I would receive from unemployment would be what I needed in order to follow through with the internship and finish my degree. God came through again and we came into a little bit more money that would get me to the end of the year and thus also giving unemployment a few months longer to contact me.
Finally, in November, they contacted me. A hearing was set up and I was able to get my back pay of unemployment - which was enough to get me through the next season of life! It was my ram in the bushes! God came through for me yet again!
So what does all of this have to do with Genesis 22 and the story of Abraham [1] Abraham wanted a son because God had promised him that he would be a great nation and have many descendants. But the only trouble with that was Abraham and his wife couldn’t have any children. God came through for them and they had a son named Isaac. So you can imagine was Abraham felt like when God told him this:
“‘Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.’”- Genesis 22:2 NLT
All of sudden out of the blue Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son. Abraham didn’t know why or what God was doing. I am sure this has happened to you. Not the sacrificing of a child part, but the all of sudden change that life can bring. A job loss. A death. A spouse leaving. A medical diagnosis. These life situations can just come out of nowhere. Abraham was faced with an out of nowhere situation.
Abraham did as God asked him to do. He packed up some things and He and Isaac set out for the mountains. Every step of the way, Abraham was probably wondering what God was to, why he was facing this season of life, and what was going to happen. Abraham reached the mountain and was ready to sacrifice his only son, when God came through for him. Just as he was about to sacrifice his son, Abraham was stopped by an angel. When he looked up, he saw a ram caught in the bushes. Abraham used the ram for the sacrifice. Abraham had this to say and it’s a good message that I was reminded of when I got my ram in the bushes…
“Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means ‘the Lord will provide’). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: ‘On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.’”Genesis 22:14 NLT
For Abraham, the mountain was a place where God provided for him. Not that God had not provided for him before, but God provided something he needed right at the right time.
For me, 2021 is the year that God provided. Once again, not that He hadn’t provided for me before, but He provided something for me when I needed it [1].
God’s timing is perfect (Proverbs 16:9 and Jeremiah 29:11). It will be confusing at times, but His timing is perfect. God has great plans for us and there is nothing that happens that God doesn’t know. There is nothing that happens that God can’t use for the good (Romans 8:28).
Wait and see what God is going to do in your life. Wait for your ram in the bushes.
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[1] Please also check out the series “Jireh” I did earlier this year. The series is available in blog and podcast forms at https://www.thepointoffocus.com/
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