Early risers have always impressed me, I guess because I’ve never been much of one. It’s good progress if I get going by 7 a.m. So when I read that Abraham rose early to set out on a task, I pay attention. What was so important that he needed to get started so early in the morning? The answer is found a verse earlier in Genesis 22:2: “Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and…sacrifice him.'” Huh? I don’t know about you, but that’s not the kind of thing that’s going to get me jumping out of bed in the morning. In fact, it’s likely to keep me in it, with my head tucked under my pillow! I’d be hoping that if I just wait long enough I’d get a different message from God. But Abraham rose early, perhaps even before dawn, loaded the donkey with wood and set out with his son and two of his servants.

What would motivate this kind of enthusiastic obedience? Was Abraham just trained to jump when God said ‘jump’? Perhaps. But it may also go deeper than that. Hebrews 11:19 gives us a little insight, “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from the death.” Knowing that God had given him a promise — that his descendants would be innumerable — he believed God would do a miracle. Perhaps like a child the night before Christmas, Abraham fell asleep the night anxious to rise the next morning to see what God had in store. Could it be that a miracle is store for you too? Maybe God is waiting to see if you’re just as anxious to see it as He is to reveal it.

Your thoughts? Have you stopped trusting God for the seemingly impossible things in your life?