A L M A C I A S

HOW STRONG IS OUR FAITH?

Have you ever wondered how strong your faith is and how much you would be able to endure? Many times I have noticed that we have a misconception as to how strong we really are in the faith. We normally think that we are stronger than we really are; and, therefore, when temptation or trials come our way, we easily fall. We have the case of the apostle Peter who said to the Lord that he would never deny Him when the Lord told him specifically that he would deny Him three times before the cock would crow. (Matt. 26:31-35) In this passage of Scripture, we find a person who is very much like the average person today, who thought that he was stronger than he really was. Peter told the Lord that he would die with the Lord rather than deny Him. Well, we all know the rest of the story of how Peter did deny the Lord three times before the cock crowed.

Such is not always the case. There are some among us who do have a very strong faith in God and who would be able to endure whatever came their way without giving up on God. In Genesis 22, we find the case of Abraham, who was asked by God to do something that would require extreme faith on his part. The Lord asked Abraham to take his son, his only son Isaac whom he loved, and to offer him as a sacrifice unto the Lord. What did Abraham do when asked to do such a difficult thing? He simply did it. He took his son Isaac to the place designated by the Lord and prepared everything in order to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. There are some questions which we might ask ourselves concerning Abraham which would help us learn the great lessons we find here in regard to how much we can take. One question that I would ask myself is, "How was Abraham able to bear what the Lord was asking him to do?" What makes a person so strong that he would even be able to bear such a terrible tragedy? The answer would be faith in God. Abraham had total faith and trust in God and all God had promised him.

Abraham must have remembered all the things that the Lord had done for him in the past. Also, Abraham must have remembered how the Lord had promised that he would have many descendants through his son Isaac; therefore, if the Lord wanted Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, he must have reasoned that somehow the Lord would resurrect Isaac from the dead. At the point that Abraham was getting ready to sacrifice Isaac, the Lord told Abraham to stop. Abraham could not have known this would happen, but what he believed about God came to pass. That is, that somehow God would give him the way of escape so that he would be able to bear it (I Cor. 10:13). How much we are willing to endure for the Lord¹s sake will depend upon the strength of our faith in God.