trust

I don't really know why, but the theme of trust seems to be jumping out at me over and over again in recent weeks. I mean this week it is sort of obvious why it would jump out as we have the ultimate trust story of the Hebrew Bible. Abraham taking Isaac to be a sacrifice to the LORD is the #1, by far, trust story. Abraham trusted God more than Noah, more than Moses, more than Job, more than anyone that I read.

Two things seem apparent. 1) you either trust God or you don't.
God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." He said, "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 that I shall show you." So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him.
No hemming and hawing is apparent in the text; just a command from God to do the unthinkable and Abraham goes off to do it. This seems to be a trademark of trust. One might argue that Abraham had enough experience with God living up to his promises to just do it, but I would point you to their first run-in when Abram, as he was called then, is told by God to leave the land he knows, to leave his family, and go to a land that God will show him (Gen 12). There too, Abram just does it.

2) Trusting God means to have high expectations of God.
Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you." Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Isaac said to his father Abraham, "Father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." He said, "The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" Abraham said, "God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son."
Abraham trusts in God's promises over the years. His experience of God in the past meant that God would do something amazing here too; heck Isaac himself was a miracle. So when it looks like the worst is going to happen, Abraham can say, with some confidence I'm sure, "God himself will provide the lamb..."

It is, for sure, a tough way to learn about trust, but Abraham 1)trusts and 2) holds God to a high standard and it is reckoned to him as righteousness.