Image by Tangent~A
By James Kissinger
I love the stories of the Old Testament. They’re usually about someone screwing up, and I can so relate to that. But occasionally someone will get it right. One of those men who did get it right is Abraham. To me, the story of him willfully offering his only son, Isaac, in Genesis chapter 22 is the ultimate story of faith. A real man, with real emotions, giving up that which is most precious to him for no other reason than God has told him to do so. It’s one of those stories I couldn’t really wrap my arms around until I became a father myself. As a father, it became very personal to me.
Abraham and Sarah had waited so long for a son. Not just any son, but a very special son. A son to fulfill God’s promise of making Abraham the father of God’s people. The birth itself was a miracle. Actually every birth is, but I’ll save those thoughts for another day. In this case Abraham was pushing 100 years of age and his wife, Sarah, was barren. Let’s just say the odds weren’t stacked in their favor. And along comes Isaac. Can you imagine the joy their new baby boy brought them? A special son for a special purpose. Now I don’t wanna be changing diapers at 90, but at that stage of life if God saw fit to build his people through me, and my wife bore me a boy, I imagine I’d look at my son with a whole lot of love and a good deal of awe. I already do that with my daughters. Anyway, it must’ve been a very special time in Abraham’s household. Which brings us to chapter 22.
“Abraham! Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Love, God.
WHAT!!???? ARE YOU SERIOUS!!???? BUT WHY???? And so what did Abraham do? He obeyed without hesitation. Early the next morning he saddled up and left for Moriah. We’ve all seen the innocence of our children’s faces when they sleep. If you’re like me you’ve probably even taken pictures because they look so beautiful and precious. I have little doubt in my mind that Abraham sat on Isaac’s bedside that morning and softly wept as he watched his innocent son sleep. Just taking in the beauty. Perhaps Sarah was sitting next to him, or maybe she couldn’t gather the strength to get out of bed. The bible doesn’t say, but I imagine it was a hollow, empty morning in their household. Faith. Obeying God in the toughest of circumstances.
It took three days to travel to the mountain God had chosen. Three days. I wonder what Abraham’s conversations with God were like during those three days? Did he fight back feelings of anger? What did he and Isaac talk about? Silly things Isaac had done as a kid that made he and Sarah laugh? I bet his mind wandered back to Sarah at home quite often. I also imagine he stared at Isaac a lot. Soaking in a picture of his face and small body. The son he’d waited for so long and loved so dearly. Do you think he held him tightly at night and cried silently, tears rolling down his cheeks? Careful not to wake him. I do. What do you think Sarah was thinking and feeling back home? Was she doubting God? Was she doubting her husband? Was she doubting them both? What a long three days those must have been.
When they got to the mountain, Abraham obediently cut the wood for the sacrifice. He placed it on Isaac’s back to carry up to the mountain top. A foreshadowing of Christ carrying His cross to Calvary. Golgotha. The Place of the Skull. The ultimate sacrifice. Along the way Isaac asks, “Father. The fire and wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Did emotion overcome him when he heard Isaac’s question? They were just minutes away. Did his voice crack when he answered his precious, innocent son? Did he want to cry out to God at the top of his lungs? Why God … WHY!!??? For a moment did he consider throwing the wood off of his son’s back and running to the warmth and safety of Sarah and his home? Faith. Obedience.
And so we read on. Genesis 22: 9-14 …
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” 13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram [a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”
God took him all of the way … the knife to his son’s throat. He didn’t run. He didn’t back down. He didn’t once waiver. The ultimate expression of faith. “The Lord Will Provide.” Faith. Obedience. Redemption.
May we all have even a shadow of the faith of Abraham.
My prayer: “Lord, search my heart and show me the faith I possess. Like the refiner’s fire, remove my impurities and leave what is precious in Your sight. Prepare me this day to walk with the faith of Abraham, until the knife falls from my hand. Your servant, James. Amen.”
