Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.”

So which is it?

Should a Christian operate on faith or reason?

Well, anyone who has read the scriptures will tell you that God puts the emphasis on both.

In fact, when it comes to our salvation the one leads to the other.

Yes, God has asked us to reason together with Him, and He has supplied all the facts.

And the first thing that comes to light is the fact that our sins are as scarlet.

Actually, “There is none righteous, no, not one.”

But those same sins can be made white as snow, as white as those sheep grazing on the hillside.

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Yes, God’s plan of salvation makes perfect sense.

And it is found throughout the Old Testament Scriptures in the types and sacrifices that are recorded there.

And in the New Testament, John the Baptist invites us to---“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

Yes, it’s all there.

God only asks us to consider His plan, His perfect provision through Jesus Christ.

“Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.”

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So then, considering this link between reason and faith, it’s not surprising that reason played an important part in one of the greatest examples of faith found in scripture.

Here’s how it happened.

Genesis 22:1-2 “Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." Then He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah , and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

What a test!

Abraham was being asked to sacrifice his well beloved son, the son he had waited for all his life.

And not only that, he was being asked to eliminate the only person in the world through whom the Abrahamic covenant could be fulfilled.

Genesis 17:19 “---Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.”

No, God couldn’t give Abraham another son in place of Isaac.

It wasn’t like the time God had replaced Abel with Seth.

The covenant could only come through Isaac and through his descendents.

And up until this time, Isaac hadn’t produced any descendants.

In other words, the Abrahamic covenant would die with his son.

Did God’s commandment make any sense at all?

Well, for Abraham, it did.

Let’s look at Hebrews 11:17-19, where we get the inside story---“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, "In Isaac your seed shall be called,"(and here’s were logic came in) concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.”

Basically, his calculations went like this:

Number 1---God’s promises could only come through Isaac.

Number 2---God always keeps his word.

Conclusion---I can safely kill my son, and God will raise him from the dead in order to keep His word.

Now things didn’t happen just the way Abraham thought they would, God had a better way.

Nevertheless, he had used sound logic based on complete faith.

So, what would he tell Sarah if his son didn’t get up?

What would he do if Isaac just laid there in his own blood?

I don’t think that question ever crossed his mind.

No, he “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

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So, is there a place for logic in the life of a Christian?

After all, doesn’t Proverbs 3:5 say---“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding.”

Yes, it does.

But the problem isn’t with the understanding, it’s with the leaning.

Are we going to rely upon our own resources, or lean upon a God who would sacrifice His only Son as a burnt offering?

Are we going to depend upon Him who “is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,” or set our horizons in accordance to our own wisdom.

The answer should be obvious.