One of the Greatest Stories of Faith

By Joe Keim

November 1, 2025

It all started in Genesis 12:1:

“Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country… unto a land that I will shew thee.”

From that point on, over the next 25 years, the Lord and Abraham met off and on. Most of the time, God was reminding and reconfirming His promise:

“I will make of thee a great nation.”

Years passed. Then, even more years passed. Abraham’s faith grew weak. He stumbled a few times. Innocent people got hurt. But…

God kept reminding Abraham of His promise. Still no child. Eventually, Abraham and Sarah laughed. They said something like, “We’re almost 100 years old! This promise of God is starting to feel like a joke.”

Abraham veered off course and went down to Egypt. This is where they may have picked up Hagar. Later, when Sarah gave up and wanted to stop playing God’s game, she handed her Egyptian maid, Hagar, to her husband, saying, “Go ahead. Try to have a child with her instead.”

And we all know how that turned out. What a mess. What pain came from it! But God wasn’t done. The story kept going.

It was long. It was hard. It didn’t make sense for years. But in the end, it would all come together. And finally… it did. 25 years later, after a long wait and much water under the bridge, God spoke again.

This time, He said to Abraham, “Come with me. You’re ready now. It’s time for the test.” The truth is, Abraham would not have been ready for this test even a year earlier. But now, after all the waiting, all the tears, the detours, and all the lessons, he was ready.

“And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him” (Gen 22:3)

When they approached the mountain, Abraham told the two young men to stay behind. Then he said these powerful words:

“I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.”

Did you catch that? “We’ll come again to you.” That’s faith talking.

As they climbed the mountain, Isaac asked, “Father, we have the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb?”

Abraham replied,

“My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering.”

So the two of them, Abraham and Isaac, walked on together, step by step, up the mountain. The conversation likely consisted of only a few brief exchanges. It may have been near dead silence. Who knows for sure?

They reached the place God had told Abraham about. And then… Abraham built the altar. He laid out the wood, just like a burnt offering required. And then, with hands probably trembling, he tied up his son Isaac and laid him on the altar.

This was his promised son. The one he had waited 25 years for. The one God said would bring a nation. And now God was asking him to give that son back.

Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife. He was ready to obey, even if it may have felt embarrassing, even if it broke his heart.

But right at that moment, something happened:

“And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God…” (Gen 22:1112)

Can you imagine the relief? The tears? The joy?

Abraham looked up… And there in the bushes, caught by its horns, was a ram. God had provided, just as Abraham had said He would.

He untied Isaac. They took the ram and offered it instead.

That mountain was no longer just a mountain. It was a place of deep faith. A place of trust, tested and proven. And Abraham gave that place a name:

“And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen” (Gen 22:14).

JehovahJireh means “The Lord will provide.”

What can we learn?

• God’s promises may take time, but they are sure.
• Our detours, doubts, and delays don’t cancel God’s plan.
• Sometimes the test comes when we least expect it, but God knows when we’re ready.

When we trust God fully, we’ll find He already has a ram in the thicket, a way of escape, a miracle, a provision.

One of the Greatest Stories of Faith

— by Joe Keim

The author invites you to text or call with questions or comments! (419) 6516813