Genesis 22:4-18

Abraham began walking with the Lord many years before he was asked to offer Isaac on the altar. His first step had been to leave his home and relatives and go to a land God pledged to show him. But now he was being told to give up the person he cherished most. Isaac was the son of promise–the one through whom God would bring forth a great nation and bless the entire world. This was the biggest challenge Abraham had ever faced, yet he obeyed.

The Lord never allows us to rest on a spiritual plateau. That’s why He at times tests our commitment. These stretching opportunities are an expression of His love because He knows that standing still is not what’s best for us. The testing is designed to help us grow in faith, obedience, and spiritual maturity while increasing our dedication. That is the way we become valuable servants in His kingdom.

Abraham’s obedience to this crucial test was determined by his understanding of God. He believed that the Lord would keep His promise to give him descendants through Isaac, even if it required raising the boy from the dead (Heb. 11:17-19). That’s why Abraham confidently declared to his servants, “We will worship and return to you” (Gen. 22:5, emphasis added). He knew the Lord was faithful.

If you’re going through a time of testing, God is seeking to raise your commitment to a new level. He wants to prove to you that He’s faithful to His promises and will greatly bless you for your obedience. The stretching may be painful, but He will wrap you in His love and carry you to victory.

 It was the intention of my high school math teacher to demonstrate exactly what every student wonders when drudging through exercises that challenge motivation and patience to the highest degree: “Why on earth is this important for the real world?” Interspersed throughout his lessons were statistics that were intended to spur us on to greatness: “Life and trigonometry are in the details,” he would say, followed up by statements like: “Had the position for one of the bases of the St. Louis arch been miscalculated by only a few centimeters, the two arms of the arch would have missed one another completely.” Or, “A 1.3 millimeter spacing error in the assembly of a mirror within the Hubble Telescope, in effect, put blinders on the most powerful telescope ever made (and embarrassed a few former math students).  

 There was something freeing about his vow to reveal the significance of the tedious coursework he readily assigned. He didn’t see us as indolent students asking “why bother” in harmonized whines (though our motives were undoubtedly mixed and laziness was easily one of the factors). Instead, he made it okay to ask why—even mandatory. We did well to ask what on earth trigonometry had to do with reality because however the question was asked, there really was an answer. And if we would hear the answer, we would find that trigonometry wasn’t nearly as meaningless as we expected. 

 I have often wondered what went through the minds of the disciples as Jesus spoke of mustard seeds, wine skins, and thieves in the night. In their three years with Jesus, I am sure the question crossed their minds: “What on earth does this parable have to do with the real world?” More than once the Gospels impart the disciples questioning amongst one another, “What is he talking about?” Imagine their excitement when Jesus promised that a time was coming soon when he would “speak plainly”!

 As humans we are inclined to ask why. It becomes our favorite question at age two and something is lost when we forget it. The desire to know simply for the sake of knowing is what separates humans from animals, said C.S. Lewis. We are inclined to ask, inasmuch as we must ask, because there is an answer. As T.S. Eliot penned:

 We shall not cease from exploration,
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

 As the disciples watched and listened, Jesus told a crowd of people a story about seeds and soil. When he finished, they took him aside and asked what on earth he was talking about and why he just couldn’t say it more clearly. “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

 Jesus replied, “I speak to them in parables because ‘though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’ In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.’ For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes…But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.”(1)

 I’m not sure he answered the question they thought they were asking. It reminds me of the circular discussions we had as children and the why-halting words of a parent, “Because I said so.” In effect, Jesus seems to have said, “I speak to them in stories they don’t understand because they don’t understand.” Yet even after calling the disciples blessed because their eyes and ears were getting it, he still explains the parable to them in detail. 

 What seed had to do with the real world, I’m not sure the disciples saw clearly before it was explained to them. But that the man before them had something more wonderful to do with reality than they could yet grasp was knowledge that opened their eyes along the journey and made them blessed whether they fully comprehended it or not. It seemed to matter more that they were with him—in body, in will, in spirit—than in complete comprehension. And yet he gave them permission—even incentive—to ask why, again and again.

 As my math teacher urged us to see that it was our vision of the “real world” that needed revising, so Jesus compels the world to see more. His parables speak into a world that has somehow grown lackluster and leave us asking not only, “What does this have to do with reality?” but more invasively, “What IS reality?” Or indeed: Who is reality? However the question is asked—with ears hardly hearing, with eyes opened or closed—there is an answer, and Christ suggests he has something to do with it.

 Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

 (1) Matthew 13:13-16.

Morning “Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar.” /
Psalm 120:5

As a Christian you have to live in the midst of an ungodly world, and it is of
little use for you to cry “Woe is me.” Jesus did not pray that you should be
taken out of the world, and what he did not pray for, you need not desire.
Better far in the Lord’s strength to meet the difficulty, and glorify him in
it. The enemy is ever on the watch to detect inconsistency in your conduct; be
therefore very holy. Remember that the eyes of all are upon you, and that more
is expected from you than from other men. Strive to give no occasion for
blame. Let your goodness be the only fault they can discover in you. Like
Daniel, compel them to say of you, “We shall not find any occasion against
this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.”
Seek to be useful as well as consistent. Perhaps you think, “If I were in a
more favourable position I might serve the Lord’s cause, but I cannot do any
good where I am”; but the worse the people are among whom you live, the more
need have they of your exertions; if they be crooked, the more necessity that
you should set them straight; and if they be perverse, the more need have you
to turn their proud hearts to the truth. Where should the physician be but
where there are many sick? Where is honour to be won by the soldier but in the
hottest fire of the battle? And when weary of the strife and sin that meets
you on every hand, consider that all the saints have endured the same trial.
They were not carried on beds of down to heaven, and you must not expect to
travel more easily than they. They had to hazard their lives unto the death in
the high places of the field, and you will not be crowned till you also have
endured hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Therefore, “stand fast in
the faith, quit you like men, be strong.”

Evening “Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?” / Job 38:16

Some things in nature must remain a mystery to the most intelligent and
enterprising investigators. Human knowledge has bounds beyond which it cannot
pass. Universal knowledge is for God alone. If this be so in the things which
are seen and temporal, I may rest assured that it is even more so in matters
spiritual and eternal. Why, then, have I been torturing my brain with
speculations as to destiny and will, fixed fate, and human responsibility?
These deep and dark truths I am no more able to comprehend than to find out
the depth which coucheth beneath, from which old ocean draws her watery
stores. Why am I so curious to know the reason of my Lord’s providences, the
motive of his actions, the design of his visitations? Shall I ever be able to
clasp the sun in my fist, and hold the universe in my palm? yet these are as a
drop of a bucket compared with the Lord my God. Let me not strive to
understand the infinite, but spend my strength in love. What I cannot gain by
intellect I can possess by affection, and let that suffice me. I cannot
penetrate the heart of the sea, but I can enjoy the healthful breezes which
sweep over its bosom, and I can sail over its blue waves with propitious
winds. If I could enter the springs of the sea, the feat would serve no useful
purpose either to myself or to others, it would not save the sinking bark, or
give back the drowned mariner to his weeping wife and children; neither would
my solving deep mysteries avail me a single whit, for the least love to God,
and the simplest act of obedience to him, are better than the profoundest
knowledge. My Lord, I leave the infinite to thee, and pray thee to put far
from me such a love for the tree of knowledge as might keep me from the tree
of life.

Have you entered into the springs of the sea?   Job 38:16

Some things in nature remain a mystery even to the most intelligent and enterprising investigators. Human knowledge has boundaries beyond which it cannot pass. Universal knowledge is for God alone. If this is true in the things that are seen and temporal, I can be certain that it is even more so in spiritual and eternal matters. Why, then, have I been torturing my brain with speculations about divine sovereignty and human responsibility? These deep and dark truths I am no more able to comprehend than to discover the source from which the ocean draws her watery supplies.

Why am I so curious to know the reason for my Lord’s providences, the motive of His actions, the design of His visitations? Will I ever be able to clasp the sun in my fist or hold the universe in my palm? Yet these are as a drop in a bucket compared with the Lord my God. Do not let me strive to understand the infinite, but spend my strength in love. What I cannot gain by intellect I can possess by affection, and that should be enough for me. I cannot penetrate the heart of the sea, but I can enjoy the healthy breezes that sweep across it, and I can sail over its blue waves with propitious winds.

If I could enter the springs of the sea, the feat would serve no useful purpose either to myself or to others; it would not save the sinking ship or restore the drowned sailor to his weeping wife and children. Neither would my solving deep mysteries avail me a single whit. The simplest act of obedience to Him is better than the profoundest knowledge. My Lord, I leave the infinite to You and ask You to put far from me a love for the tree of knowledge that would keep me from the tree of life.

Family Reading Plan   Ezekiel 8  Psalm 46