Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed.
—Romans 4:18
You want to scream “No!” when you hear God order Abraham to sacrifice his son as a burnt offering.
You see faith at its finest as you watch the heavyhearted patriarch pack his sacrificial gear and with his heir in tow begin the three-day hike to Moriah to do the unthinkable.
Forty centuries this side of Moriah, you know how the story turned out. But Abraham, living the excruciating moment, didn’t have a clue that an angel would intervene and stop the lunge of the knife in mid-swing.
In the grip of the cold command to kill his son, Abraham refused to forfeit his faith: “He believed that if Isaac died God would bring him back to life again” (Heb. 11:19 TLB). Facing facts told him that his son was going to die; fervent faith told him that God would restore him to life.
Hold on to heavenly hope even
when it makes no earthly sense.