After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he answered.
“Take your son,” He said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” -- Genesis 22:1-2
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; he who had received the promises was offering up his unique son, about whom it had been said, In Isaac you seed will be called. He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead … -- Hebrews 11:17-19
We could ignore unanswered prayer. We could assume that whatever it is we are praying for is not according to God’s will. We could move on and if not forget at least learn to live without that answer. Abraham had believed God and seen the promise fulfilled. He had obeyed the Lord in disinheriting and sending away Ishmael, the son of flesh, Adam in type, the old man. Now, here was Isaac, son of the spirit, son of obedience and faith, and God tells Abraham the only son whom he loves must be given up.
I would complain. I would say, Wait, this is not what I created out of my own power and ability. This is what You gave me, Lord. If You didn’t want me to have this, why give it in the first place? Why allow me to possess, cherish, depend upon, and love this gift then demand that I give it back? It is incomprehensible.
Though it seems reasonable to question such a demand, we have no record of any struggle Abraham had. He got up early in the morning and set out. Surely that must have been a trip that was both too long and too short. Traveling with his son by his side, Abraham would have listened to the young man’s pleasant voice talking about one thing and another, knowing there was a hill yet unseen they would have to climb, knowing the knife he carried would spill his own son’s blood, not in anger but in obedience. I can’t imagine the torment. He was a better man than I.
Abraham understood God as almighty, the One not hampered or hindered by anything. But, it is equally true, the One who cannot be helped by anything. It had finally come home to Abraham that he was not able to do anything, either good or bad apart from his God. We can cooperate with God’s will or oppose it. He will get the job done regardless. Our opposition will cause us pain, but it cannot alter His ultimate purpose. No matter how much our assistance or resistance appears to accomplish temporarily, in the end we have not moved anything.
It is easy enough for us to understand the need for purification from the lusts of the flesh, for separation from the world, the flesh, and the devil – easy to understand, not so easy to do sometimes. Sending Ishmael away makes sense at least, no matter how painful it may be for us. In place of the flesh, the Lord gives us gifts of the Spirit. He gives us peace and assurance. He brings people into our lives. We have love and joy and fellowship.
The thing is, at some point, we must choose between the gifts and the Giver. If we walk with the Lord long enough, we will endure the long, dark night of the soul. We must be willing to relinquish the gifts and blessings of the Lord, even His presence for a time. We will find ourselves in a valley facing a long, steep climb to a place we do not want to go. We believe in God the Creator, who calls things into existence that do not exist. We must learn at last to believe in Him who is the Resurrection, who gives life to the dead. Then, like Abraham, we will cling to nothing except Him, and we will face, not only our own death, but every little death, and death itself without fear.
3 comments:
Thanks, Mushroom - this is a well-timed piece.
Looking at the situation from a slightly different way, perhaps Abraham was able to accept this awful task with the knowledge that, setting aside for a moment the "burnt offering" part, what he was doing, what he had been asked to do, was to give his beloved son to God. Maybe knowing that whatever he was going to do would somehow unite this child with his beloved God made it just bearable enough that he could bring himself to do the unthinkable.
Superb.
I also enjoyed the post about Aaron's sons. That is a strange and very troubling episode, and I never know quite what to make of it.
JWM
A powerful piece. And within it a story I have a very difficult time watching, as John says. I can only get so close. I know how it ends so can’t wait to get there – but you have to “go through” that terrible part of the story …or it ain’t the story at all, is it? It’s a brainbender to boot. Torment indeed. Especially about the son so innocent, not knowing what is going on.
As the case with these difficult ones, a story worthy fleshing out as best you can, until you can. Which you did. I never directly looked at it from the perspective of “answered prayer”. I was only happy that it was over :-)
Eckhart helps me under-stand the “dark night of the soul” as a way of teaching the difference between grace and what actually is God. As if to say, if we are chasing after grace, ecstasy, experience, we will be stuck there, and not actually seeking God.
“We believe in God the Creator, who calls things into existence that do not exist. We must learn at last to believe in Him who is the Resurrection, who gives life to the dead.”
As Bob says so well, “Either God exists, or he doesn’t.”
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