INTRODUCTION

Sometimes it seems that to trust or obey God would to disaster. In certain instances speaking the truth, maintaining financial integrity, remaining sexually pure or counter to our basic instincts or human reasoning.

GROUP DISCUSSION

Make a list of people that you consider trustworthy. For each person you list, think of an example of how you have actually put your trust in him or her. Tell the group about one of these examples.

PERSONAL REFLECTION

When is it hard for you to trust God?

Suppose God asked you to do something that seemed utterly foolish or even contrary to all that you understand God to be. How would you respond? For example, what if God asked you to kill your child? Unthinkable? Yet in Genesis 22 God places Abraham in just such a position. In this vivid and dramatic narrative, among the most beautiful in the Old Testament, we observe Abraham coming face to face with the supreme test of his faith in God. Read Genesis 22:1-19.

Describe Abraham’s predicament and his response. How would you feel if God asked you to give up the most important person in your life? What words and phrases in verses 1-2 emphasise the extremely painful nature of God’s command to Abraham?

Why would this command seem so incomprehensible to Abraham (see 17:15-22)?

List the specific ways in which Abrahm demonstrates faith in verses 1-10.

In verses 11-18 the angel of the Lord calls out to Abraham twice. How would the angel’s words and actions have deepened Abraham’s faith?

From Abraham’s example in this passage, how would you define faith? How did Abraham’s faith have far-reaching consequences on other people (vv. 15-18)?

In what ways does your faith, or lack of it, affect people around you? What did Abraham learn about God from this experience?

What tests of faith are confronting you today? How can Abraham’s example encourage you to trust God more fully?

Pray that God would give you courage to trust Him even when you can’t fully understand what He is doing in your life.

⁠

Now or Later ⁠

Read James 1:2-5. Reflect in God’s purposes in testing us.