Lord,

To you, the one testing the righteous, revealing your face to the upright and despising the wicked, to you, the one who is and who was, and for whom we now wait in expectation, to you be our thanks.

You visited your people in Abraham and Sarah with blessings unimaginable. You give them a child, and along with him an irrevocable covenant, swearing by yourself to bless them with everlasting inheritance.

Yet how fearful was their test? To forsake the same blessing in the only form in which they could see it and trust you would provide somehow, some way; to sacrifice their son, their only son. No, it never came into your mind to expect this sacrifice to be completed: you only commanded it for us to see and weigh the cost of our redemption—the cost you paid willingly.

Prepare us, Father, for whatever tests lay ahead. Christ is our inheritance and our sacrifice. Let he who died and is alive forever help us to brave the deaths we must daily die. Give us Christ, and with him an everlasting promise. Let us behold his face, and in his, yours.