The Road to Moriah

Sometimes the hardest part of a difficult season isn’t the moment when everything changes. It’s the stretch of time afterward when you still don’t know what God is doing.

You keep getting up. You keep going to work, answering messages, making dinner, taking care of people, and doing all the ordinary things life still requires. But underneath all of that, there’s a question you can’t quite put down.

Where is this going?

Genesis 22 tells us that after God spoke to Abraham, Abraham began traveling toward Moriah. He didn’t arrive there immediately. There were three days between the moment God gave the instruction and the moment Abraham finally saw the place in the distance.

Three days of walking.

Three days of carrying what God had said without knowing how the story would end.

Sometimes we focus so much on what happened on the mountain that we miss what must have been happening on the road.

Scripture

“On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.”
— Genesis 22:4, BSB

Reflection

Genesis gives us very little detail about those three days. We know Abraham got up early the next morning. He prepared the donkey, took two servants and Isaac with him, cut the wood for the offering, and started toward the place God had shown him.  Then Scripture simply tells us that on the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

I sometimes wish the Bible told us what Abraham was thinking while he walked. Did he replay God’s words in his mind? Did he wonder whether he had misunderstood? Did he look at Isaac walking beside him and remember how many years he had waited for this son?

We aren’t told.

Maybe that silence is part of what makes this story feel so familiar. A lot of our own difficult seasons happen in those quiet spaces too. There isn’t always a dramatic answer or a clear sign from God. Sometimes there’s just another day in front of us. And we have to decide how we’re going to walk through it.

The road to Moriah was not wasted time. Abraham was already living out his trust before he ever reached the mountain. Hebrews 11 tells us that Abraham believed God would somehow remain faithful to His promise concerning Isaac. He didn’t know how God would do it, but he had enough history with God to keep moving forward.

That doesn’t mean the walk was easy. Trust and ease are not the same thing.

Sometimes trust looks much more ordinary than we expect. It can look like getting out of bed when you still don’t have an answer. It can look like praying again after yesterday’s prayer seemed unanswered. It can look like refusing to make a fear-driven decision just because uncertainty is uncomfortable.

We often think the important part of the story will happen later, when God finally explains everything or changes the situation. But what if something important is already happening now? What if God is forming something in us while we are still on the road?

Abraham’s relationship with God wasn’t only shaped by what happened when he reached Moriah. It was shaped by every step that brought him there. That matters for us because so much of life happens before the answer comes.

How Jesus Meets Us 

Jesus understands what it means to walk through a season when the destination ahead is difficult. The Gospels show us that He often knew where a road was leading long before the people around Him understood it. He walked toward Jerusalem knowing what awaited Him there. Along the way, He continued teaching, loving people, praying, eating with friends, healing those who came to Him, and remaining close to His Father.

That tells us something important about how Jesus meets us in our own in-between places. He doesn’t only show up when the crisis is resolved. He meets us while we are still walking.

Maybe you’ve been waiting for something to change for months. Maybe you’re carrying a question that still doesn’t have an answer. Maybe you thought you would understand what God was doing by now, and you still don’t.

Jesus isn’t asking you to pretend that the uncertainty doesn’t bother you. He invites you to bring it with you as you walk with Him.

This is one of the truths at the heart of Abraham’s journey:

Sometimes we think the destination is where we will finally understand what God was doing, but so much of our relationship with Him is formed on the road there.

You may not be at your Moriah yet. You may simply be somewhere on the road.

That doesn’t make this part of your story less important.

Take a Moment With Him

Think about the place in your life where you feel as though you are somewhere between what happened and whatever comes next.

Maybe you received news you weren’t expecting. Maybe something you prayed for hasn’t happened. Maybe life changed direction and you’re still trying to understand what that means.

Instead of asking Jesus to show you the entire road today, ask Him something smaller:

“Jesus, how can I walk with You here?”

Prayer

Jesus, I wish I could see where this road is going. Sometimes the waiting feels harder because I keep trying to figure out what happens next, and I get frustrated when I can’t. Help me remember that I don’t have to understand the whole journey to walk with You today.

Meet me here in this part of the story, before the answers come. Show me what You are teaching me and where You are inviting me to trust You more. When I start rushing ahead in my mind or trying to control an outcome I can’t control, bring me back to what is in front of me today.

Thank You for staying close to me on the road, not only at the destination. Help me notice You here and keep taking the next step with You.

In Jesus’ Name, amen.

Reflection Questions

1. Where in your life do you feel as though you are somewhere between what happened and the answer you are still waiting for?

2. What is hardest for you about the waiting—the uncertainty itself, the lack of control, the fear of what might happen, or something else?

3. What might it look like to walk with Jesus in this season instead of spending all of your energy trying to get to the end of it?

4. Looking back over your life, can you think of a time when God shaped something in you during the waiting that you might have missed if the answer had come immediately?

Remember This

The road is not just the space between the problem and the answer. God can meet you there, teach you there, and deepen your relationship with Him long before you understand where the journey is leading.

Today’s Faith Step

Choose one part of your current situation that you keep trying to solve ahead of time.

Write it down.

Then underneath it, write:

“I do not have to know the whole road to walk with Jesus today.”

Ask yourself what faithfulness looks like for the next twenty-four hours—not the next month, not the final outcome, just today.

Then take that one step with Him.