Genesis 22:1-2
1Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." 2Then 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."
As I sat pondering what direction I should follow for today's Soulscape edition, what topic to pursue, I decided to consult a few daily devotionals. I came across these verses from Genesis, verses that have always intrigued me. Over the years I have heard many questions on this subject and have preached several sermons on it as well. Reading these words again today inspired a new line of thinking, and I just wanted to take a few minutes to share these thoughts with you.
I have recently had several conversations concerning the spiritual condition of the Church in today's world. It seems that with each passing year the general trend of the Church is a growing spiritual coldness. This isn't true in every congregation or with every person, but overall there seems to be less dedication and fervent effort seen on behalf of the Lord and His work. It is disturbing to me personally, because I have so many wonderful memories of "camp meetings" and revivals and even weekly times of worship that were filled in so many ways, like with a desire for service, with an overwhelming sense of God's Spirit present with us, with attendance and so many other ways.
Then, little by little, it seemed that things began drifting off. There were fewer people showing up, services grew more and more subdued and quiet, and the general atmosphere was just a little colder than it used to be. I have wondered (and still do as a pastor and a concerned Christian) what the root of the problem is and how to address and fix it. Reading these verses today opened up my mind to a new way of thinking, so to speak.
We are a blessed country no matter how you look at it. We have so much to occupy our attention and care. Abraham's one deep desire was to have a son, and God promised that he and his wife Sarah would indeed be blessed with an heir. Finally, Isaac was born and Abraham received the desire of his heart. No doubt the old man grew very close to Isaac over those early years as he watched him grow and mature into an honorable young man. Then, out of the blue, God calls on Abraham to do the impossible: give up the very gift he'd waited a very long lifetime to receive, give up your own son. I myself being a father, I can't imagine what it would be like to be asked to give up either one my sons, and I don't expect that will happen . . .
. . . or has it happened already?
Allow me to explain. No, I don't believe God has asked me to sacrifice the life of one of my beloved sons. He has asked something else of me, though; in fact, He has asked it of every Christian. God has asked each of us to sacrifice our own lives to Him. While we could easily get into all the symbolism of this story with Abraham and Isaac, looking at the types of Christ in these verses, instead I want to propose an alternate way of thinking about this scenario. Abraham wasn't being asked to sacrifice his son; he was being asked to sacrifice himself. Remember, the one thing Abraham wanted for himself was a son. Now that God had given him that son He was asking Abraham to give him up. The object of Abraham's love was his dear son Isaac, all his care, all his attention focused on that blessed gift from God. How could the Lord ask Abraham to give Isaac away, to sacrifice him?
In our own lives we have so many things that occupy our attention and become objects of our love: family, friends, hobbies, careers, even self. The more we focus on these gifts from God, the less we tend to focus on the God who gave them to us. That is where we begin to drift away from our devotion to the Lord. In my opinion (for what little that might be worth) Abraham was in danger of caring more for Isaac, more for his relationship with his son, than he was for God. This was the way God wanted to use to remind Abraham what was truly important in life, that being our relationship with the Lord.
I think that is one reason we have this story given to us in the Bible, to remind us of what is important. I have seen so many people begin to lose devotion to the Lord by placing so many other things first. All those things I mentioned a moment ago sometimes become impediments to a person's individual walk with Christ. Their family begins to take more and more of their time, usually on Sundays and Wednesdays, but in other ways and on other days as well. Service to the Lord, attendance in church, the expenditure of efforts and resources are traded in for jobs or for hobbies instead of the Lord's work; it's as if people say, "I don't do it all the time, so it's not all that bad," not realizing that in some cases the infrequent nature of such tradeoffs become more and more frequent (I'm not saying people shouldn't have jobs or hobbies or take vacations or go to family reunions; I am saying that we need to pay a little more attention, though).
Ultimately it comes down to serving self more than God, of saying, "I'm going to do what I want to do," with little or no thought to how it might affect our personal relationship with Christ. Sometimes we have to make the decision that, come what may, we will do what the Lord wants us to do, even if it goes against what we would like to do. For instance, I recently made a trip to go to a book signing with my favorite author. It was a Saturday, I hadn't been feeling well, but I was determined to go, having made plans for many months in advance. I knew I would be home late Saturday evening and wouldn't really get the opportunity to study for Sunday services as I normally do, but I figured I'd make do. Then the thought crossed my mind, "Why not just have your associate pastor preach instead of you?" As soon as that thought came to mind, I pushed it out and decided to come home early, missing the seminar-like discussion the author was giving at the end of the book signing. For my own conscience, I couldn't drive 250 miles for a book on Saturday and then not fulfill my duty to the Lord the next day because I was tired or my throat was sore.
In this way I had to make a choice. God blessed me with a love for reading, an opportunity to meet my favorite author and hear him talk about his writings, the gas money to get to and from the event, safe travels, and so much more. But in the process of giving me so much He didn't want me to forget Him and the fact that everything I have is because of Him. I, like everyone else, have had plenty of instances where I have forgotten that for a while. Still, when I took the time to really think about it, I knew what I had to do. I had to be willing to sacrifice what I wanted for what the Lord wanted. And if I do say so myself, it was worth it. Books come and go, they're read and then shelved. But preaching the Word of God (or not preaching it) can have eternal implications. What was more important?
Abraham had to make the same choice: whom do I love more, my son or the Lord who blessed me with him? God wanted to re-center Abraham's heart and attention on Him, and so He asked Abraham if he would be willing to give up the very thing he loved the most in order to serve God. We know how the story ends: Abraham went through with the sacrifice, had lifted the knife to spill his son's blood, but the Lord stopped him, then provided the ram for the sacrifice. By being willing to give up what he loved the most, Abraham actually was able to grow closer to God and to his son, because this was a shared experience.
Never let the blessings of God take the place of God in your life. It might seem like we're being asked to make a very big sacrifice, but ultimately we will come out better and stronger because of our willingness to make a sacrifice for the Lord. So never let up, never give in, continue to offer the Lord 100%, asking Him to help give you the strength to do that, and you will see just what can happen. Our churches can once again be filled, the Holy Spirit can once again warm our souls and fill us to the overflowing, and the work of Christ can once again move in a mighty way. The question is, "Am I willing?"
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