Abraham believed what?

Genesis 22 is a test of Abraham's faith, right? Nothing simpler than that, is there!
Sorry. Wrong.
Perhaps parenthood makes a passage like the offering of Isaac harder, but I think attention to detail sometimes forces a more careful consideration of the passage, and given that the Amateur is an amateur, sometimes the way is blocked.
Here's some mysteries in Genesis 22:
1. Why is Abraham so convinced that he'll get Isaac back (v5 and v8 - see also Hebrews 11), yet he goes all the way to placing Isaac on the altar?
2. Why does God test Abraham in this way? I'm afraid the "it's seeing how much Abraham will give for God" simply won't do for me anymore. Firstly, I am convinced that the God of Genesis 22 is the God of the entire Old Testament, a God who very clearly condemns all child-killing and especially child-sacrifice. Why does God seem to go against His own very clear standards. Again, don't tell me that the Law had not been given at that stage. God's opinion on moral questions cannot change, otherwise we'd end up with a God who is not perfect in wisdom. Secondly, God is actually asking Abraham to destroy the covenant - the fulfilment and blessings of which have been explicitly tied to Isaac(17:19,21 and 21:12). If Isaac is lost, then so is the covenant.

Here's my solution, for what it's worth. I think Abraham's faith is being tested in two ways, a surface way and a deeper way. On the surface is the basic test, Abraham's passing of which is acknowledged in 22:12. Abraham was willing to do whatever was commanded. But on a much deeper level it is actually the faith of verses 5 and 8 which is commended, the faith that God keeps His promises, the faith that knows God is not the child-killer that the pagan gods were, the faith which said whatever might happen on the mountain the Lord would show him, God wasn't going to lose Isaac. You see, we are called to be people of visible faith, faith that obeys; yet it is the faith that knows God and trusts His promises that is the faith for which Abraham is commended in Genesis 15, and which is commended in Romans 4 and Galatians 3, then unpacked and related to this passage in James 2. That faith is the one to which we are actually called here.

Children of Adam

Modern poetry doesn't have to rhyme or anything, as far as I can see. So when my metre, lack of rhythm and general amateurishness, from which I cannot be redeemed, get in the way of my poetic instinct, I don't care. This is my attempt to write as many verses as Paul Gerhardt, from 2005.

Children of Adam

We are born children of Adam

All enslaved into sin

Condemned to die a lonely death

Without a hope of heaven.

We brought this fate upon ourselves

By turning our backs on God

We wanted to run things our way

We rebelled against the Lord.

He was born as the Son of God

Born without sin

But He died for us our lonely death

To get us into heaven.

He took our fate upon Himself

Submitting perfectly to God

“Not my will but Yours” He said

He called His Father Lord.

He died abandoned by God

For us He was made sin

That we might be righteousness

Fitted for heaven

He died our death for us

That in Him we might live

And the One who gave His Son for us

His Spirit too will give.

Born again as sons through Jesus

Freed from slavery to sin

We may all lead new lives

Shaped by the ways of heaven.

God gave this future to us

To show the fullness of His grace

Because His love is limitless

To win our eternal praise.

Consider Christ who died for you

Have you ever seen such love?

Friend, will this not move your heart

To seek the King above.

Throw off all the sin that stops you

Turn to Him with all your soul.

You lose nothing however much you lose

For He can make you whole.

When we're sons of God in heaven

Bright shining as the sun

Will we remember any price we paid

To make it to our home?

We'll rejoice in God our Saviour

Delight in Christ our Friend

Sing in the fullness of the Spirit:

“Here is love without end”

Sing in the fullness of the Spirit:

“Here is love without end”

Who would be Job?

I don't know what you make of "'Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott", Luther's glorious rewriting of the 46th Psalm. I confess every word of it with my lips, but it does raise the question, "who would be Job?" I wouldn't. Check out the last verse (in English, I'm afraid, as this is an English blog):

And though they take our life
Goods, honour, children, wife,
Yet is their profit small;
These things shall vanish all,
The city of God remaineth.

Absolutely spot on, Martin. And he and others in the brutal days of the Reformation and on into the conflicts that culminated in the the 30 Years War had to believe it. They did, in many cases, lose much, and had to trust that so long as the Heavenly City is open, so they had every blessing.

But I feel differently. I am a materialistic European at the beginning of the 21st century coming to terms withe the realities of trusting Christ. Having recently read Job 1-2 in my devotional time one morning, I penned these words:

Where shall I find the faith of Job,
Faith in the fire of trouble and distress?
Faith that stands under Satan's worst,
Faith that passes the hardest test?

Though he was fully in Satan's hand,
Lost all his goods and all he had,
Though sons and daughters perished also,
Still of God he said nothing bad.

I have a wife, a son, a home,
Food as I need and clothes to wear.
Yet take from me but the least of this,
And I know not how I would fare.

I would not stand, I have not the strength
To suffer loss as great as Job did then.
But You are God, Your Spirit mighty,
Out of faith's babes You make faith's men.

So grant to me eyes fixed on Christ's Cross,
For my High Priest has suffered too.
When I can't go on, my soul has failed,
By Your Spirit let me cry to You.