Abraham and IsaacOne of my aims for 2008 is to read the whole Bible in the year. In Genesis a little while ago, and I came again to the story of Abraham (nearly) sacrificing Isaac. When you think of it, it is a horrific story - the idea of God asking Abraham to engage in child sacrifice is bizarre. Imagine someone in your church saying God had asked them to kill their own child... Why on earth does God ask Abraham to do what the nations around were doing, and something that Israel and the rest of the Bible just abhors? No idea.

I guess that perhaps is the point of the story. The Patriarchs generally are a pretty unimpressive bunch. Jacob cheats his brother out of his birthright, Abraham passes his wife off as his sister to save his own skin, Sarah gets her slave to have a child with her husband then sends her out into the desert once she has one of her own. Yet in this bit of the story, Abraham is commended: "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."

Abraham is commended not because he is brave, humble, kind; just because he trusts. In particular, he trusts God when he doesn't understand him. That's what Paul picks out about Abraham (Romans 4.3), it's what Luther noticed about him - Abraham's faith. It's as if God says to him "Don't give me your goodness, just give me your trust." That's what God looks for above everything else, what he seems to think is the most fundamental thing of all, the most valuable thing of all.

Trusting God when you understand him is easy. It makes sense, and seems obvious. It's when God doesn't make sense, when you don't understand what he's up to - that's when faith really comes into its own, when you can tell whether it's real or not. That is real faith.