Genesis 22:1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take 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.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
We never are secure from trials. In Hebrew, to tempt, and to try, or to prove, are expressed by the same word. Every trial is indeed a test and tends to show the dispositions of the heart, whether it is God honoring focused or worldly addressed. Strong faith is often exercised with strong trials. The command to offer up his son, is given in such language as makes the trial more grievous.
Never was any gold tried in so hot a fire. Who but Abraham would not have argued with God? Such would have been the thought of a weak heart. Faith had taught him not to argue, but to obey. He is sure that what God commands is good; that what he promises cannot be broken. In matters of God, whoever consults with flesh and blood, will never offer up his Isaac to God.
Here is an act of faith and obedience, which deserves to be an example to us. God, by his providence, calls us to part with an Isaac sometimes, and we must do it with cheerful submission to his holy will.
Those that are willing to part with any thing for God, will have more satisfaction from what God supplies in a single blessings than what the world could offer in 1,000 life times.
Let his love lead and train us to not live to self, but to Him who died for us, and rose again. Let us purpose our all our service to Him who gave his life for our salvation.
Whatever is dearest to us upon earth is our Isaac. And the only way for us to find comfort in an earthly thing is to give it, by faith, into the hands of God.
