“Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, ‘Abraham!’ 'Here I am,’ he replied. {2} Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, whom you love — Isaac — and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.’ ” (Genesis 22:1-2)
I’ve wondered if Abraham thought God was crazy. I mean, God was asking him to do the unthinkable: to sacrifice his son! And remember: Isaac was the son God had promised (cf. Genesis 17:15-16). Was God now going back on His word? Was He taking back what He had given?
It didn’t make sense.
God acknowledges that He understands just how hard of a task this is when He says to Abraham: “Take your son...your only son...whom you love...and sacrifice him.”
Could you imagine God asking you to do something like that? What would you say? How would you respond?
What Abraham does next is the reason why we call him the “father of faith”.
“Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.” (Genesis 22:3)
Abraham obeys. And not reluctantly or grudgingly, which only adds to his example of obedient faith.
Of course, if you know the story, you know how this plays out.
Abraham gets to the place God had told him about, prepares an altar, lays the wood upon it, then binds his son and lays him on the altar on top of the wood (v. 9). At this point, I imagine Isaac was a little weirded out!
Moses doesn’t tell us anything about what Isaac said or thought, but I imagine it was something like, “Um, dad? I know I said I wanted to go camping, but...”
As Abraham raises his knife in the air to sacrifice his son an angel appears and stops him.
“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.” (Genesis 22:12)
Which appears to explain what this whole thing was about: it was a test of the sincerity and strength of Abraham’s faith.
We don’t have to guess what Abraham was thinking this whole time because the Writer of Hebrews tells us:
“By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, {18} even though God had said to him, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’ {19} Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.” (Hebrews 11:17-19)
In addition to this, when Abraham and Isaac were traveling to the place where the sacrifice would take place, Isaac asked, “We have the fire and the wood for the offering, but where’s the lamb?” (v. 7). Abraham answered him, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son” (v. 8).
In other words, Abraham believed that God would come through for him. God had promised him a son and he knew God would keep His promise. Even if it meant raising Isaac from the dead!
Abraham is the epitome of a man of faith. And he shows us what is the most important quality of faith: trust. Abraham trusted God. Even as he walked to the place of sacrifice. Even as he bound his son and laid him upon the altar. Even as he raised the knife to kill his only child. Though God had asked him to do the unthinkable, something which didn’t make sense to him at all, he trusted God and obeyed God with all his heart and strength.
That’s a lesson for us!
For there will be times when God asks us to do something which might not make sense to us.
“Lord, you want me to give up that promotion so that I can spend more time with spouse and my kids? Really?!”
“Lord, you want me to wait until marriage before I have sex? Nobody else is waiting!”
“Lord, you want me to forgive that jerk?! You don’t understand how how hurt I am.”
There are many times when God asks us to do something which, in the moment, doesn’t make sense to us, but we must do it anyway. We must obey and trust God.
Proverbs 3:5 — “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”
Psalm 37:5-6 — “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and He will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8 — “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. {8} They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
I doubt God will ever ask any of us to make such an extreme sacrifice, but there are every day little tests of faith. I hope we respond to them the way Abraham responded: with obedience and trust.