God answers questions in his time, giving peace until then
I want to share a story about how I receive answers to prayer. To provide a "spoiler": I have never had an angelic visitation or a lightning-bolt response to life's big questions. However, I have received answers. Many years ago, I began to struggle with Isaac’s role in scripture. Is he merely a placeholder in the Abrahamic lineage? A passive figure? I found no answers. In the story of the near-sacrifice, I realized Isaac was not a small boy; he was surely strong enough to resist his aging father. He must have voluntarily succumbed. Because no servant was present, Isaac had to be willing—meaning he had to have his own testimony of God's will. I suspect Sarah also knew; Abraham likely wouldn't have dared return home had she not received her own divine reassurance. Abraham was tested to the absolute limits of his faith, perhaps drawing hope from the memory of his own rescue from an altar in his youth. I had heard many comparisons between Isaac and Christ, and Abra...