How We Might Never Waste a Trial

Introduction

Opening Illustration - Waterloo: At Waterloo one of the British lieutenants, in the early part of the day, had his left forearm broken by a shot. He could not, therefore, hold the reins in his hand, but he seized them with his mouth and fought on until another shot broke the upper part of the arm to splinters, and it had to be amputated. But within two days there he was, with his arm still bleeding and the wound all raw, riding at the head of his division. Brave things have been done among the soldiers for their counties.

Personal: Men of the world fight like that for a fading kingdom. How much more should the soldiers of Christ fight on, when the cause is eternal? How much more should we endure the suffering of a soldier faithfully, for a Kingdom of such glory and a King of such splendor!

Context: I have preached on this exact chapter at least twice since being your pastor. One time last December. That sermon was part of a mini-series that we titled “The Names of God.” Here in this passage God gives to Abraham one of the names that God’s people have used ever since, Jehovah Jireh, which simply means The Lord Provides. Since I preached on that topic at length somewhat recently, I am not going to re-traverse that doctrine at length here today. Rather, today I want to look at a different aspect of this story, and that is the forging of mature faith. Here in this story, Abraham has something new forged in him by God. The mechanism God uses to forge mature faith in Abraham is significant suffering. A trial so deep, so incomprehensible, that Abraham has no choice but to be transformed and forged by it.

Main Idea: Never waste a trial

Explication

Burnt Offering: When our story begins today, Abraham has already been developed over ten chapters. He’s a speckled and flawed man who God has already done incredible work in and through. He’s now well over 100 years old. He and his wife Sarah have had one son together in their old age, whom he loves and cherishes. Isaac is the child of promise, the one to fulfill the promises God made to Abraham. Then one night, God speaks.

Genesis 22:2 … “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.””

Imagine Abraham that night. His beloved son, Isaac, asleep next to him in the tent. The stars above his head, the same stars that God had promised would number his offspring. Now that same God asks for the life of that child, who has become his most endeared and treasured gift in this world. There’s no thunder, no great vision. Just the command from God. And that old man, now well over a hundred, stares into the sky that night and decides to obey.

Contradiction?: And there are all kinds of reasons why any rational, normal person would seek another way out.

Contradiction: He could have argued with God that this new command was a contradiction to his previous command. How could Isaac be the promised son through whom descendants would come if he was dead.

Character: He could have argued on the grounds of God’s character. Certainly God would not have him kill his son.

Dad: He could have argued the way I would have, on the grounds of being a Dad that loved his kid.

But Abraham didn’t argue. After the command, the very next thing he did we read in verse 2:

Genesis 22:3 “So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.”

Illustration - Military: This is quite incredible. Abraham comes face to face with the most significant trial of his life, and he marches towards it like a warrior on a mission. It is as if he was a leutenant in the military who had just received orders to head out on a particular dangerous mission. And he knows, you cannot argue with your captain. You’re a soldier. The only thing to do is march forward.

No Consultation: There is no consultation. Abraham doesn’t pull his wife aside and say, “Hey honey, you’re not going to like this, but I think this is what I’m supposed to do, what do you think.” You know why he didn’t do that, because he didn’t need her opinion, and her opinion would have only complicated the responsibility he had between him and a holy God. No consultation. How many good God-inspired missions have been toned down and watered down by too much consultation.

No Delay: Second, we see no delay. He doesn’t sit on it, and process it, and wait to see if it still feels like a good idea in a month. He wakes up the next day, and he obeys.

What courage on display! What grit on display! What steadfast faith on display!

Three Days of Agony: So Abraham sets out with his son Isaac, and they begin walking. For three days they walk. Can you imagine those three days, and the battle of the mind that was taking place? Can you imagine how Satan must have tried to derail him? I know how Satan gets in my mind when I have plenty of time to play scenarios over in my head. He brings to mind every reason why a certain course of action ought to be avoided. Why did God choose a mountain three days journey away. Perhaps he wanted Abraham to wrestle in his mind for three days, and not just choose to take the first step, and then talk himself out of his duty. But to choose step after step, for three days. This was not to be simply a sudden surge of devotion. This was a matter of choice, of deliberation.

I and the Boy Will Come Back: Now something remarkable is exposed in verse 5. Read it with me.

Genesis 22:5 ESV

Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”

They get to the moment, Abraham looks to his servants and says, “Hey, me and the boy are going to go up the hill.” Keep in mind that no one else knows that Abraham is about to sacrifice Isaac. And then he says to servants, “I and the boy will come back to you.” How is that possible? What is going on in Abraham’s head that he thinks he can both sacrifice Isaac on an altar and walk back down the mountain with Isaac. I can only imagine the tension and the agony in Abraham’s voice at this moment when he says “I and the boy will come down to you.” The New Testament picks up on this tension, and says that Abraham must have believed that somehow God might even raise him from the dead. What a soldier Abraham was. What faith!

End of Story: Then, in a startling, and very memorable scene, that is full of pictures of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Abraham proceeds with the plan. He loads his son Isaac up with wood, and leads him up the mountain. The son asks innocently where is the animal for sacrifice, and Abraham says that God will provide a lamb. At the top of Mount Moriah, Abraham takes his son and binds him in cords. Isaac doesn’t resist. Not a word from him. He submits. Abraham built an altar to God, which was a place of sacrifice, and laid his son on the altar. With tears in his eyes, he lifted the knife above his head. And he was going to do it.

But in the last moment the test ends. In the last moment, God ends the trial. God gives grace, and eases Abraham’s heart and mind. An angel commands Abraham to lower the knife. I imagine Abraham eagerly untying the cords that bound Isaac and wrapping his fatherly hands around him. Together, they look over and they see God’s provision, a Ram with his horns caught in a thicket. Together they look up and say a prayer of thanksgiving, trusting God in entirely new ways. And they offer the ram as a burnt offering in place of the son.

Grace Upon Grace: Abraham didn’t waste his test. He didn’t waste Moriah. Neither can we. We must not linger at the foot of the mountain, asking for easier paths. We must not refuse to leave our tents complaining that the trial is too difficult. We must walk. We must climb. We must obey. Because, if done properly, on the other side of the trial, you will find what Abraham found—a God who provides grace upon grace.

Grace of Sharpening: See it was grace that gave the trial in the first place. Somehing new was formed in Abraham and in his son that would not have been formed in other way. God is like a artist chiseling away the extra stone that doesn’t belong in the statue. Grace of being sharpened by God.

Grace of Endurance: And the grace of Endurance. You’ll find that it was God who gifted Abraham the grace to endure when he didn’t feel like he could take another step. He’ll do that for you too. He’ll grant you endurance, because if you are in Christ, you are very precious to Him.

Grace of the Ram in the Thicket: And of course, let us take very great not of the grace of the ram in the thicket. For God in his kindness spared the knife from coming down on Isaac. And in his place a ram was provided. And so it is with every Christian. Our sins would have us underneath the wrath of the Father. God would be totally just in allowing his wrath and justice to fall down on us in Hell. But the knife doesn’t come down on us, it came down on Christ instead, our substitute. The lamb that was slain. What grace, that God has provided for you and I lamb in the thicket, who was offered as as sacrifice on that altar at Golgotha. Do not despise the free offer of grace upon grace that God offers to you? Do not despise the offer of his son as your subsitute.

Wrap Up: Abraham found all of that through this trial. And if you are willing, so will you. Never waste a trial

Application

Let’s make this practical. I want us to be more equipped to suffer well to the glory of God. To endure suffering as a faithful soldier of Christ.

1 KEEP MARCHING WHEN IT HURTS

Never waste a trial, so keep marching when it hurts!

You cannot go wrong here. Abraham was given a trial deeper than any person in this room should imagine they will be forced to endure. Despite the temptations that likely came his way over the course of those three days, Abraham chose obedience. He departed from his home. He took his son. He went towards the mountain. He ascended the mountain. He bound his son. He picked up the knife. And he was going to go through with it. This is obedience. Obedience for Abraham was not easy. I imagine that his legs must have felt like jelly at certain points. And yet, he kept moving. He kept moving forward. He kept obeying.

Trials Can Numb You: I have watched so many navigate hardship and trials over the years in this church. Folks handle it in all different kinds of ways. Some better, some worse. There are some common traps that we fall into.

Spiritually Distant: Some become spiritually distant. Some folks quite naturally hole themselves up when they hit difficult seasons. They isolate themselves, especially from their church. And the problem is that the Church is a core of spiritual nutrition. And so the isolation causes spiritual distance with God. It is a like a numbness takes over. Oh my heart hurts when I see sufferers growing increasingly spiritually distant.

Spiritually Doubtful: Others becomes spiritually doubtful. Some folks real hardship comes on themselves or on their loved ones, and all of a sudden all of things they said they believed when the season was good, suddenly they’re not so sure about. They doubt if God is good. They doubt if God hears prayers. They doubt if God cares. They doubt if faith is worth it.

Spiritually Disobedient: Others still, become spiritually disobedient. Hardship can cause all kinds of stress on a person, and when we’re stressed we sometimes fall into vices to let off steam. We can grow angry or bitter. We can turn to vices like alcohol or tv or gambling or smoking. I’ve seen folks choose all kinds of disobedient behavior when stressed by trial.

Illustration - Blacksmith: Distance, Doubt, Disobedience. Church, the trials are supposed to form you. It’s like blacksmith’s forge. All the blacksmith has is pieces of metal. Until he heats up the furnace and places the metal in the furnace. And once the metal is hot, he takes the metal out which is now fiery red with heat, and he starts pounding it into the shape he desires. Only after repetated cycles of heating, hammering, and cooling, does the metal become a tool strong enough for its purpose. God is the great blacksmith. If he has you in the fire, choose obedience. Don’t draw away from God and waste the trial, but push in more than ever, God is forming something new in you.

1 Peter 1:6–7 “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

2 HOLD THE LINE ON GOD’S WORD THROUGH ALL OTHER UNCERTAINTY

Never waste a trial, so hold on God’s Word through all other uncertainty. Abraham has that interesting moment where he doesn’t know how the future is going to play out, but he looks to his servants

Genesis 22:5 “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.””

He has not clue how this is going to happen. He’s likely wagering that God is going to miraculously bring him back from the dead. All he knows is that God said there was a future that was going to come through this boy. Therefore, nothing would derail that from happening.

Illustration - Sandbar: Last year I was on a retreat with some of the pastors, and I was swimming in the ocean. I’m not a great swimmer, I get exhausted very fast. But the previous day we had all swam out to a sandbar quite a ways out that when you got there the water was only chest deep. So I knew I could make the swim, even though it made me a bit nervous. On the next day it was a little more overcast and choppy water, but another pastor said let’s swim out to the sandbar. He was a much better swimmer than me. Again, I was nervous but I agreed. When we got out there, we realized the water was higher than the day before, and I couldn’t touch. I began to get a little frantic, I had swam with enough energy to get out here with the expectation to rebuild my energy for the swim back. I was breathing heavy. About ten yards away was a small buoy, about the size of a large balloon. I swam to it, hoping it would support me, but it was too small to fully hold me up. But that little bouy, even though I had to work pretty hard, was able to help me float for a few moments, to get my breath, and head back in.

Anchors: Sometimes in the midst of a trial, it can feel like the sandbars you expected to be there, aren’t there. What you need is some fixed bouy in the storm, to hold you up, help you get your breath, so you can keep swimming. The immovable object in your life is the Word of God. It’s fixed. It’s steady. It doesn’t sink beneath the storm. Unlike the bouy held onto that sank a bit beneath my weight, the Word of God will hold you up. In seasons of trial, be like Abraham. Find the Holy Spirit grit that God has given you, to latch yourself onto the promises of God, until you believe them.

Practical: How do you do this well? You must permit the trial itself to cause new dependence on the Word of God that was never there before. Maybe, you’ve had a solid practice of engaging with God’s Word for many times. But God is doing something new in your life. And his desire is that you will come out the other side of this trial, not with the same habits of bible study and bible knowledge as before, but at a whole new level. Maybe that’s what he’s forming in you, and the trial is his method of forming that dependence. Don’t waste it. Lean in.

3 TUNE YOUR EAR TO YOUR COMMANDER’S ORDERS

Never waste a trial so tune your ear to your commander’s orders. Abraham told nobody where he was going. He didn’t consult anybody. He didn’t even tell his wife as far as we know. He knew the Word of God, and he was called to do, and so he did it.

Big Picture: There are some duties you will face in your life, some trials you will be called to, that will not survive committee hearing. There are indeed some acts of faith that you will be asked to endure that, if you submit them to your closest friends, they will work to talk you of it, because they love you. This happens in two different ways, and it is important to distinguish between these.

Duties From Scripture: Many of the duties that we are called to be God are Biblical, and so there is no argument about them. Each Christian is called to be a part of a local congregation where they pour their gifts out and participate in weekly worship together. If you have friends that are trying to talk you out of that, that’s fairly easy. They’re wrong. You just point to Scripture, say “you’re wrong,” and then do what God told you to do.

Duties from Spirit: Many duties however, are not specifically written in scripture, yet they are guided by Scripture, and solidified in your heart by the Holy Spirit. Many of these duties will cause all kinds of difficulty and stress in your life. I’ll give you two examples.

Larimers: I met with a young couple in our church this week, who is preparing to move overseas as missionaries to a fairly hostile environment. Informed by scripture, certainly! This couple has to know from God what their duty is. Because those who mean well, who love them, might want to protect them and slowly talk them out of their duty.

Kolbs: A second example I think of is the Kolb family. When they began to foster two of their daughters who are foster children. My wife was recalling that they called us up, and asked “do you think we should do this…” We were in the middle of our own challenges with foster care and adoption at the time, and after talking it through with them, we suggested they didn’t go forward at that point. Praise God they didn’t listen to us.

Practical: Perhaps this trial is teaching you about single-minded devotion to God. You may have many good voices in your life, but the chief voice you need to listen to is God, through the Holy Spirit. And maybe this trial is God’s way of teaching you how to discern God’s leading in your life with greater clarity. Don’t waste the opportunity. Submit opinions to God in prayer. Seek wise counsel where needed. Seek your pastor’s counsel where needed. And hopefully if I’m doing my job I’m simply opening up God’s Word and prayerfully alongside you. But learn to trust the Holy Spirit above every other voice.

4 SEE EVERY MOUNTAIN AS AN ASSIGNMENT FROM GOD

Never waste a trial, so see the trial as an assignment from God. This passage begins with God determining to test Abraham. This passage ends in verses 16-17 where God says

Genesis 22:16–17 “… By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies,”

The entire story was an assignment. It was designed by God to form something in Abraham, to forge new awareness, new hope, new understanding, new devotion. Can you imagine what Abraham must have been like the next time he entered a difficult trial. Think how much more dependent on God he was having now walked through this, and seen God’s goodness, seen his provision, seen his promises. This was an assignment that Abraham passed.

Illustration - Christ: When Jesus was arrested in the Garden in the middle of the night. He knew the suffering that he was about to endure. The moment the guards came to arrest him, Peter reached out struck one of the guards with his sword. Jesus commanded him to put the sword away, and then he said these words to Peter,

John 18:11 “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”

You might also translate that, “Peter, shall I not endure the suffering that God the Father has assigned to me.” We have seen that Jesus is the greater Isaac because, like Isaac he willingly submitted to the Father’s plan to sacrifice him. Jesus is the greater lamb who was slain as a substitute for us. But here we see that Jesus is the greater Abraham who endured the greatest assignment of suffering the world has ever known. Why? Why did he endure it. The author of Hebrews tells us:

Hebrews 12:2 “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

For the joy that was set before him. Christ knew that through His death, sinners like us would be ransomed, would be forgiven. And so he endured it for the glory of God.

On Us: Church, none of us will ever be called to suffer to the degree that Christ has suffered for us. Yet we will be called to suffer. And so right now, you’re saying “God take me out of this suffering.” And God is saying, “No, there is a greater good that you cannot see. I have more glory to get from this yet. This suffering will end one way or the other on the exact moment I have declared my glory to be achieved.”

Minister: For those of you suffering right now. I know that short statements like these sound good on paper, but in the trial its a whole lot more blurry. Know that your tears are not lost on God. Your pain is not insignificant to God. He’s God. He’s sovereign. Not one thing will ever happen to you that is not necessary for his glory and your good to be accomplished. And on the other side of our suffering, there is blessing. Abraham received his blessing. And you will too.

Romans 8:18 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Closing

God called Abraham up the mountain to form faith that could not be built in the valley. He will call you up too. When He does, don’t look for an easier path—climb. Trust that on the other side of the mountain, the same God who tests you will provide for you. Faith climbs the mountain, and finds that the God who sends the trial walks there too. Don’t waste your trial. But push in.