Abraham is a person that we can look to that shows what authentic faith in God looks like. God made a covenant with Abraham, promising him that He would have a son and from his seed there would come more offspring than stars in the sky (Gen. 15:5). Not long after this promise, Abraham and Sarah became the proud parents of a baby boy named Isaac. Since they were well beyond in years of child bearing and this was their firstborn son, I have no doubt they were entranced with his every moment. So when God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on an altar, the Bible says Abraham remembered God’s promise and reasoned that God could raise him from the dead (Heb. 11:19). Instead of questioning God, the Bible says that Abraham rose the next morning and gathered supplies and took his only son to the land of Moriah.
I don’t know about you, but I would have been dragging my feet on this walk. But Abraham was steadfast. You can almost hear the strength of his faith in his words to Isaac. Isaac asked him, “My Father! Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” (Gen. 22:7). Abraham reassuringly responded, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son” (v.8).
Once they were to the place where God had made known, Abraham built an altar and prepared Isaac as a sacrifice. But just as Abraham stretched out his hand to kill Isaac, the angel of the Lord said, “Abraham, Abraham! Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me” (v. 11-12). As Abraham looked up, there in the dense bushes was a ram for sacrifice. God had provided a substitute.
Dr. Gregory Smith, my Old Testament professor at seminary, shares a clear picture of what authentic faith looks like. Notice the heart with feet. Authentic faith includes obedient action. James states, “Faith without works is dead” (Jas. 2:17). By placing his son on the altar, Abraham was demonstrating his faith in the covenant promise that God had given him. He had learned that God’s promises are not fulfilled through any Plan B’s of our own making. Instead, God’s promises are for us and fulfilled through God alone. Our responsibility is to act on our faith or as Dr. Smith would say, “Put feet to our faith.” In the picture of the heart with feet, the heart is believing while the feet are moving. So the question for us is are we backing up our faith in God with actions? Do we have authentic faith? Abraham put feet to his faith. Do we?