The Bible tells us that faith comes from hearing.
So how is your hearing?
I had the privilege of speaking at church a few weeks ago and this is the thrust of what I spoke on:

If you chat to a ppeech and language therapist they will tell you that speaking problems often begin with a hearing problem. If you can’t hear well, you can’t speak well.
Someone who I have always admired, in terms of his faith, is Abraham.

No other man was called upon to give as much as Abraham. No one else was ever asked to sacrifice their only son. Only God. Many people have read the story of Abraham and Isaac up the mountain and said how it is a forshadowing, a picture and a prophecy of Jesus. That is true, but that’s not what I will major on today.

I want to look at how God gets Abraham to hear him so clearly.
This is a big test of Abraham’s faith and his ears.
What God asks Abraham to do makes no sense at all.

GOD DOESN’T ALWAYS “MAKE SENSE”
Did you know that God is not interested in making sense to us? We cannot use logic as a yardstick for God’s ways. Sometimes we get a job that it makes no sense we would get. We may be friends with someone that in normal circumstances we would not hang out with. It just works because it has God’s blessing on it.
God seems to be going back on His word, on His own promise to Abraham in Genesis 22. What had he said to Abraham previously? Back in Genesis 17:5 he had said
“You will be the father of many nations.” Why kill the fulfillment of His promise? It makes no sense.

But we must remember that God is not restricted to our ways and our understanding.

GOD IS FAITHFUL TO HIS WORD and REVEALS HIMSELF TO FAITH-FILLED PEOPLE

God will never lie or go back on His word. Abraham knew that about Him.
He remained faithful to God despite the obvious stresses of the situation.

He believed God was going to provide. Notice his incredible language in
Genesis 22:5. He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then WE will come back to you.”

Notice WE not I.

Hebrews 11:19 in The Message says:
“Abraham figured that if God wanted to, he could raise the dead. In a sense, that’s what happened when he received Isaac back, alive from off the altar.”

He believed in resurrection!

God reveals himself to faith-filled people. God is deeply attracted to faith. He loves it. It moves Him!
Obedience isn’t one of our big virtures today. Its not very cool is it? We live in a society that lionizes rebels, those who say no to authority – that’s our hero.
But God loves obedience. He speaks when He knows He will be heard and obeyed.

GOD DOESN’T SPEAK IN NOISE
He can of course, but He doesn’t like to compete.
Is it not nearly so important what we say to God but what He says to US that matters. We so often get that the wrong way round!
There is so much noise, distraction and competition for our attention: TV, people, music, work”¦ we are very rarely still.
God often wakes me in the night. I can’t say that I always love it. But it when I am most receptive to His voice and we both know it!

GOD WON’T SPEAK WHEN WE ARE WITH THE WRONG PEOPLE

Abraham is taken away from his friends, his servants, his wife, his flocks to where there is nothing. Except him and God. A mountain top experience is Biblical code for ‘about to have meeting with God.”
God wants to get us alone.

Did you know that sometimes He means for you to be uncertain? He wants us feel a little unstable. He will remove your support and your back up. Those other voices are too loud.
Abraham left his servants behind. There are some people that you cannot take with you. No matter how you care about them. Walking with God means we have to say goodbye to others.

Abraham told his servants to stay with the asses. Is God being all quiet with you? He won’t confide in you when your hanging out with the wrong people. Leave the donkeys behind.
Dedication requires separation.

GOD DOESN’T ALWAYS GIVE DETAILS
Abraham did not say “Where we going God?” He was used to God’s ways by now.
As a leader it’s a tough staff meeting when people say, “Where is God taking us?” And we just say. “I don’t know.”

If we have too many facts, we don’t have enough faith.
You will know when you get there. You will know. I will show you. At the time.
God deliberately withholds details. He is trying to TRAIN US TO HEAR HIS VOICE.

Can you hear my voice under pressure? Will you obey me even when it sounds crazy?
We may say, “Lord how will I pay this bill? God how can I handle this break Up, this diagnosis, this exam result?”
He says, “I will show you on the way. Just walk with me.
Walk with me. I have ordered your steps. When you get there, the provision will be made for the next step.
You don’t have to know everything before you start walking.”

God will tell you while you walk. You have been praying and asking Him for details. There are times that God has given me companionship not conversation.

GOD WILL SPEAK
What did Abraham and Isaac learn about God?
He spoke up. He is never late, though He is often last minute!

He sets up calamities as opportunities to hear him in the crisis. The crisis is not about the crisis at all”¦ its God’s gym training the muscles of our faith.
This is the gym to exercise your ability to hear with your inner ear. The smallest bone in the body in the middle ear is the most crucial one to our direction.

GOD WILL PROVIDE
Isaac noticed there was a dagger hanging off Abraham’s belt, the wood and the fire. He asked his Dad, “Where is the lamb? Did you forget something?”
Abraham “God himself shall provide.” He is in no doubt at all. He thinks,
“When I need it he will provide it.”

Imagine if Abraham wasn’t trained to hear God’s voice? He would have killed his promise and destroyed his destiny.
Don’t kill your dreams because you have gone deaf to his voice.

God wants your ear. He wants to know that He can interrupt you and change your directions, He wants to know that you are sensitive to His every word.

Now to the most beautiful part of the story. “Look behind you. There is a ram. Tied up.”
If you study rams, rams don’t climb that high! It is against their nature. The ram was coming up one side and Abraham was coming up the other. We can be all worried about our problem and see no solution but its climbing up the other side.

God has a blessing ready for His faithfilled ones.

Praise him for what you haven’t seen yet.

God has the answer before we have the question. He says, “I never wanted you to suffer, I never wanted you to cry. I wanted you to hear me and trust me. Turn down the noise. I want to tell you where your ram is.”

Look up today and see what God has trapped in order to bless you!