Genesis 22:3
And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
For many years, Abraham believed by faith that God would give him a son. Finally, at one hundred years of age, God fulfilled His promise to give him a son. The joy of knowing that your faith was finally rewarded had to be very satisfying to Abraham. Every time he looked at his son Isaac, he had to see that living by faith was worth the wait.
However, a wrinkle was thrown into Abraham’s dream when God told him to take his only son Isaac and offer him as a burnt offering to the LORD. The next thing we see after God told Abraham to do this is action. The verse above says, And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son…. There was no hesitation in Abraham’s faith. The reason Abraham was quick to move was because his faith was not focused on common sense, feelings, nor his ability to work things out, but his faith was focused on God’s omnipotence. Because his faith was focused on God, he never doubted God’s promise. Several lessons are learned about faith from this situation in Abraham’s life.
First, your focal point of faith must be on God. You cannot live a life of faith and not have your eyes solely focused on God. You will fail to live by faith if you focus on anything other than God. You cannot have your eyes on God and your dreams simultaneously and successfully find God’s blessings that come by faith. You must give up your dreams and focus solely on what God tells you to do and His power to accomplish it if you are to experience His fullest blessings for your life that come through faith living.
Second, focusing your faith on God alone keeps you from hesitating. Had Abraham hesitated one moment, doubt would have set it and likely kept him from doing what God wanted him to do. You cannot hesitate when faith calls because the moment of hesitation to what God tells you to do is when you begin to doubt faith and trust yourself. All Satan wants you to do when faith tells you to step out is hesitate. Any moment of hesitation in faith’s directive is one moment of disobedience to God. Never hesitate when faith tells you to do something.
Third, focusing your faith on God alone keeps you from looking at the circumstances that surround your life. The believer of faith must not look at the circumstances that surround faith’s directive. Circumstances will always tell you that what you are attempting by faith is impossible, but that is why it is called faith. If it were not impossible, it would not take faith. Therefore, never look at the circumstances that surround faith’s directive in your life, but keep your faith focused on God.
Fourth, a believer of faith must never contemplate the results of faith’s directive. Faith doesn't ask you to consider; it commands you to obey without considering the results of what might happen. All it takes not to live a life of faith is to ask how you are going to make it if you obey faith’s directive. My friend, faith’s directive always seems to give unfavorable results, but it always delivers God’s greatest blessings and miracles if it is obeyed. If you want to experience the miracles of faith, never consider the “what if.”