By David Faust

God had several surprises in store for Abraham, and the faithful patriarch was willing to tackle every item on the checklist.

Move to a foreign land? Check. Believe that your aging, infertile wife will have a baby boy? Check. Trust that through your offspring God will bless all nations on the earth? Check. As a sign of your covenant with God, be circumcised at the age of 99? “Hmmm. I’m not sure I heard you right. Could you say that again, Lord?” Surely Abraham balked. Noah got a rainbow, and he gets this?

God wasn’t finished surprising Abraham. Years after Isaac was born, God tested the old man’s faith with another strange command: “Put your beloved son on an altar and offer him as a sacrifice.” We know the story had a happy ending, but at the time Abraham trusted God even though he must have been profoundly confused and distraught.

God’s Ways Are Not Our Ways

A famous verse says, “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord” (Isaiah 55:8). It’s hard, though, when God’s ways require something unpleasant from us. From a safe distance theologians ponder the significance of the covenant of circumcision, but Abraham experienced it at the point of a knife.

God gave his people some other odd-sounding instructions and they responded with faith-stretching actions. Noah, build an ark. Moses, tell Pharaoh to let my people go. Joshua, march your troops around Jericho. Gideon, drastically reduce the size of your army. Jesse, your youngest son—the one tending the sheep because you didn’t consider him worthy of an audition—is God’s choice to be king.

Single mom with a hungry son, share your last smidgeons of flour and oil with Elijah, trusting God to provide. Esther, risk your life by asking the king to spare the Jews. Daniel, keep praying although it will land you in a lion’s den. Israelites, tithe your income and God will pour out more blessings than you can contain.

Mary, prepare to give birth although you are a virgin. Joseph, trust that Mary’s pregnancy is part of God’s plan. James and John, walk away from your family’s fishing boat. Matthew, leave your tax collector’s booth. Peter, step out of the boat onto the stormy sea.

Wedding feast attendants, the bride and groom are out of wine, so do whatever Jesus tells you and fill up some water jars. Mary Magdalene, trust Jesus to transform your past and make you a witness of his resurrection. Impoverished widow, put your last two copper coins in the temple treasury, and for centuries others will be inspired by your example.

Ananias, go to Damascus and pray for Saul of Tarsus, because he will play a key role in spreading the gospel he formerly despised. Priscilla, help your husband make tents—and risk your neck planting churches. Timothy, stay there in Ephesus where your ministry will be difficult but fruitful. John, go into exile on the island of Patmos where you will write a book that rocks the world for centuries to come.

Abraham wasn’t the only one to receive strange-sounding instructions from the Lord, but he learned what believers have discovered ever since. Even when God’s ways are difficult for us to comprehend, he always knows what he’s doing.

David Faust serves as the Associate Minister at East 91st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Based on International Sunday School Lesson, © 2013, by the Lesson Committee. Scripture quotations are from the New International Version ©2011, unless otherwise indicated.

As you apply today’s Scripture study to everyday life, read Engage Your Faith by David Faust and the correlating Evaluation Questions.