In Chapter 22 is the story of Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac on Mount Moriah.
Isaac was the covenant seed that God had promised Abraham and Sarah.
(Gen. 17:19, 21)
Isaac was 37 years old when this event took place. We know this because right after this event, his mother Sarah died at the age of 127. Sarah was 90 when Isaac was born.
For 37 years Abraham was watching his seed covenant grow without seeing any further evidence that the promise was being continued or fulfilled. Isaac was not married nor did he have any children yet. Abraham is now 137 years old; it has been 62 years since God made the covenant with him; and now God wants him to take the seed of their covenant and kill him as a sacrifice unto the Lord.
This raises several problems.
First, there will be no one to fulfill the promise God made.
How can you have a promise manifested if the seed of that promise is destroyed?
Second, sacrificing of your children is something that God hates. This is one of the reasons God wanted the Canaanites destroyed by the children of Israel because they were sacrificing their children. Why would God want him to do this evil thing?
Abraham was most likely at his lowest point when God told him to take the son of his covenant and kill him in a religious practice that would most assuredly do away with any chance for their covenant to be manifested. He had sent his son Ishmael away, never to see him again, and the only hope for more descendances, God tells Abraham to kill. There could have been nothing more heartbreaking to a person than for God to ask this of him.
With faith that God would make some provision or even raise Isaac from the dead, Abraham headed to Mount Moriah. Moriah means, "chosen by Jehovah". The place which God sent Abraham to was His chosen place to have sacrifice. Called the "mountain of His holiness" in Psalm 48:1 and Jerimiah 31:23; the "mountain of the Lord" in Isaiah 2:3 and Micah 4:2; this was the very place Solomon would build the temple (2Chronicles 3:1) and have sacrifices that represented the one sacrifice for all sins, Jesus.
Abraham left Sarah behind and probably never saw here again. When they left Mount Moriah after the sacrifice, the Bible says they went together and dwelt in Beersheba (Gen. 22:19), some eighteen miles southwest of Hebron, where Sarah was. This sacrifice brought much grief to Abraham and Sarah's marriage. It is very likely Sarah died of a broken heart, thinking her son was dead. Whether she ever saw Isaac again or not, Abraham and Sarah never lived together again.
If Abraham was ever having a bad day, the events around this sacrifice was not helping. Until the moment he heard the voice of God stopping his hand from sticking and killing his promised seed, Abraham was at his lowest level of hope. He never gave up that God was going to fulfill the promise of their covenant, but it did not look good until that moment when God called out to him. In that moment God proclaimed His greatest blessings upon Abraham:
"blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." [Gen 22:17-18 NKJV]
It must be noted that while Abraham was at his lowest level of hope; climbing up Mount Moriah, God was having a lost ram climbing up the mountain on the other side.
They heard no sounds of a ram while preparing for the sacrifice.
They saw no ram while making ready the place God told them to go to.
Isaac understood what was happening and at 37 years old, he did not fight against being the sacrifice.
As Abraham raised his hand to strike the killing blow, God cried out and manifested the blessing of their covenant, a ram, the true sacrifice that ensured their self-survival.
This ram provided assurance to Abraham that he would see the covenant continue as God promised.
This ram provided Isaac with the protection of life and continuance as the promised seed.
Jesus Christ is our lamp, slain from the foundations of the earth (Revelation 5:12; 13:8).
Jesus provides assurance to us that we will see the promises of God continued for us.
Jesus provides protection for our lives that we can continue and be the promise seed for others.
When we are at our lowest God will give us His greatest.
In your worst days, God is always there with you.
On your least days of faith, when your hope seems tried up, it is God's greatest days to show you his greatest power in your life. As Abraham never gave up, you must continue toward your Mount Moriah, your place "chosen of God."
Abraham name the place of his sacrifice, Jehoviah-jireh. Most know this to mean, "God will provide." The literal Hebrew translation is "God will see your faith and God will provide."
How great of a God we have that on our worst days of faith, He uses our lowest levels to measure our greatest achievements. This is why God told the Apostle Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2Corinthians 12:9).
When you examine your greatest moments in faith, you will remember these were your lowest level of faith and God turned into your greatest moments. Isaac's greatest moments of faith were recorded in the next two chapters Genesis: his sons being born (Gen. 25:25:21-26) and he sowed in the land and reaped one hundredfold (Gen. 26:12).
Rejoice when you are at your Mount Moriah because when you leave your sacrifice with the Lord he is going to birth a reaping in your covenant of promise.
Don't give up, "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." [Gal 6:9 NKJV].
Now that we understand when we are having our worst days in faith, God is using it to have His greatest days through us, How do we get past the fear and get to the victory?
1. Remember God will use our weakness for His glory.
When you are having a day with little faith, turn it around by remembering God is going to use it as one of His greatest days through you.
Here is a link where a doctor tells the story of one of his lowest days of faith. Click this link to view the video. Doctor Prays for Dead Patient
He tells where a man drove himself to the emergency room only to collapse on the floor with a massive heart attack. They emergency room staff worked desperately to revive the man, but he never regained consciousness. After many times shocking the patient and having the on-call cardiologist attend to the patient, time of death was given. As the cardiologist was leaving the room he heard the voice of God tell him, "Go back and pray for that man". The doctor was very busy that morning and kept walking down the hall. He heard God speak again, "Go back and pray for that man". This time the doctor answered, "But Lord he is dead and has been dead over an hour." Even in his busy day he wanted to be faithful to the Lord so he returned to the room where the nurse was already preparing the body for the morgue. The doctor laid his hands on the body and prayed if this man did not know you as Savior, return his soul to his body so he could learn of you and be saved. The doctor asked for the patient to be shocked with the fibulator again. Immediately his heart started beating and he started breathing. The patient remained in ICU for three days because he was comatose. Three days later the patient woke up without any complications or medical problems. When the cardiologist saw him that day, he shared the story with him and asked if the man wanted to accept Jesus as his savior, which he did. The most amazing thing about this story for the doctor is, he said that morning it was one of his lowest days of faith. This doctor was have difficulty even hearing God that morning, until God used him to save this man's life.
On your lowest days of faith, remember God will use them to do His great work through you.
2. Never Give Up, Continue to the Place of Sacrifice.
While Abraham was climbing the mountain to sacrifice his son, I am sure he wondered how God was going to make a way Isaac would come down the mountain with him.
The answer was in the ram God was sending up the other side of the mountain.
Each step Abraham took that brought him closer to the place of sacrifice was another step of faith.
Each step we take that gets us closer to our Mount Moriah, is another step of faith for what God has promised us. Until Abraham and Isaac got to the moment of sacrifice they were not going to have freedom from the fear they had to be facing.
Until we get to the place of sacrifice our fears will continue to linger.
At that very moment we stretch forth our hands to make the killing blow:
At that moment we stretch into the hope we have in God,
At that moment we stretch into the love we have for our God,
At that moment we stretch beyond our worst fears and touch God
You will hear the voice of God calling you and he will restore you with the great blessings he has for you.
3. Go down the Mountain with Thanksgiving and Praise.
As you move away from the place of sacrifice live in the glory of God.
Become an open testimony of the greatness of God in your life.
Become the promise that God has made in you.
Walk in the multiplied blessings God has given you.
Show the world that God has brought you through the Sacrifice.
Share the Sacrifice with the World.
The Bible says that Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba (Genesis 22:19). Beersheba is a city in the most southern part of Israel. It got its name as an witness that Abraham dug a well in that place, and the well was his. He was having problems with the Philistine king, Abimelech, who was stealing the wells when Abraham would have made. He gave Abimelech seven ewe lambs and made a covenant with him, that the well was made by Abraham and it belonged to Abraham. Abraham name the city Beersheba, meaning "the well of the sevenfold oath." This is where Abraham and Isaac went to live when they left the sacrifice.
As you leave your place of sacrifice, live in the oath you have made with God.
Become the blessings of God for the world you live in.
Then you will see the hand of God multiply his blessings in your life.