This week we looked at my favorite bible story; Abraham proving his faith in Genesis 22:1-19.
I will try to give you stephen-weaver-reader’s-digest-version: First the backstory… Isaac is the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah. In Isaac represents God keeping his word with Abraham and is pretty important to the genealogy and lineage of everything important. Isaac was precious for many reasons beyond just being Abraham’s son.
So, God asks Abraham to go to an undetermined place and offer up Isaac as a burnt sacrifice. Crazy, right? Even crazier, Abraham goes along with it and does exactly what God says… and just when he is about to kill his son, God interrupts him and provides a ram for the sacrifice.
There is so much in this story, and even more that we hit on last night that gave me some fresh perspective on it. I will give you the notes from the study, and then we will go through all the goodness in list form today…
Strong faith is often exercised with strong trials.
Faith does not argue, it obeys.
Our faithfulness affects our character and those around us.
v1 Easily overlooked, but a key to the story and the testament to the character of Abraham, when God called to him, he heard him, he answered.
v2 It almost seems like God is rubbing it in… He emphasizes that he is asking Abraham to kill his “precious” gift… This is not only the struggle of a father being asked to kill his son, but a follower of an almighty God who is apparently going back on his word…(key word=apparently)
v3 One of my favorite parts of the story… “THE NEXT MORNING…” There was no week to pray about things; there was no day of fasting to make sure he heard things right, there was no argument, just immediate obedience.
v4 Something that I had overlooked in this story for as long as I have been teaching it… It was a three day journey… a lot of time to think about what was going on… we don’t have the internal struggle of what Abraham or Isaac was thinking or dealing with…
v5 Word choice is so important isn’t it? He tells the servants that he and his son will go over the hill and… worship… worship? He knows what he is about to do, and he calls it worship… this act of sacrifice and this act of obedience is him submitting to God’s authority… it is him bowing down and saying God you are God… that is true worship… then he prophesies a little and says… we will be right back, not, I will be back, but say goodbye to Isaac…
v7-8 This had to be the moment that Abraham was dreading… “daddy?” It is one of those moments where you realize that they realize what is going on… their little a-ha moment… and you thing… ah-crap… but, not for Abraham… “God will provide” I know that there is some power in just saying the words… “God is in control”
v9-10 One of the other major issues in this story, where the drama ensues… but, what it is really all about to me is the fact that he is going all the way with what God has called him to…
v12-13 There was a ram that just happened by… coincidence? But, it doesn’t say that Abraham went looking for the ram… he looked up and there it was… I know that I spend more time looking for the ram in the thickets than trusting that it will be there when I look up…
v14 Again, it is important the words we chose… as well as what places are named… Jehovah-Jirah… The Lord will provide.
v16-18 There is a reward for obedience and faith… The promise is really big… and the reward is great. Here is where we see the direct affect of our obedience and faith on those close to us and all around us.
