Only One Thing

 The following is based on Genesis 22. It is a fictionalized version of what I imagined might have happened at that time. It is not intended to be scriptural fact, but only to draw you into the emotions, and experiences Abraham may have gone through.  -MW

The sun’s bright beams were just peeking over the horizon like fingers reaching toward heaven, gently lighting up the sky and painting the clouds with streaks of gold. The donkey blew out of his nose and sent little billows of steam in the chilly morning air. Abraham patted the animal’s side as he tugged on the cinch, tightening up the saddle. His heart was heavy with what was to come.

It would be at least a three-day journey, so he had to make sure they would have enough provisions. He would be taking two of his young men with him, along with his son. As he continued his task, his mind drifted back to the day before. The day when everything changed. The day when he would be asked to do the impossible.

“Abraham!“
His heart began to pound. He knew that voice.
“Here I am.” he replied.
“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.“

His mind reeled. He was stunned.
He could not speak.
He could not think.
He could not reason.

He could only do one thing. Obey. Now, here he was, saddling his donkey and not allowing his mind to think of anything but the task at hand. As he finished, he checked to make sure everything was secure and in place. Though he put it off as long as possible, there was only one thing left to do before they departed.

Cut the wood.

Abraham’s steps slowed as he made his way to the store of limbs and firewood behind their tent. But no matter how slow he walked, he knew it would not delay his responsibility. As he began to cut, he thought of his son. Isaac. His son of promise. Memories came rushing back like a flood…

He was not allowed into the birthing room, but he remembered with perfect clarity the day that Isaac was born…the rushing of servants, Sarah’s cries, then Isaac’s.

The times Isaac would look up at him with eyes full of innocent wonder, with those long black lashes, or reach up with his precious chubby fists and pull on his beard.

He remembered Isaac’s first steps, how he stood, then wobbled…took one unsteady step…then two, then three. Oh, how he and Sarah rejoiced!

Visions of his boy running and playing danced in his mind, then of Isaac seeing him and waving, beckoning him to come, his excited voice crying out “Daddy, come play with me!”

Sweat began to gather on his forehead, then slide down his face and mingle with the tears that had already begun to fall. Was God really asking this of him? To make this kind of sacrifice? Then his mind traveled to the many times that God have proven Himself faithful and trustworthy...of the many conversations they had over the years.

“God has never failed me” he thought. “He will stay true to His promise.”
Assured of his faith and of the promise and provision of God, Abraham took the wood and the fire, and put it on the donkey. He called his servants and his son Isaac, and they set out on their journey.

Every turning point in our lives provides an opportunity to be used by God in a significant way to tell His redemption story and to make His name known. Trust is the deciding factor in our relationship with God that determines whether or not we will settle for less or act in accordance with His calling.

So. Do you trust God?

Do you really trust God for who He is?

God demanded Abraham’s most precious treasure. This promise that Abraham had mocked and laughed at (Gen.17:17), but had found the forgiveness of God who turned his laughter of mockery into laughter of joy through Isaac. And what of his father’s heart when he is called upon to sacrifice his joy?
It is obedience. It is trust.

“I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”

There are some greater works that God is calling us to. We cannot stop believing that God is going to provide for us. There is only one thing for us to do. Obey. Obey as Abraham obeyed.

What in your life are you unwilling to sacrifice in order to experience God in an unparalleled way? What’s more important to you? What are you unwilling to let go of?

“God is not contented if you only give Him what you can easily spare; He will not be satisfied with a mere secondary treasure; but often He demands your chief delight, and bids you surrender the most precious thing you have. There is to be no reserve — no treasure kept back — no bidding God to take anything except that. There are many ways in which your faith is thus tried, and your love is called to give up its treasures. True, you are not told to offer up an Isaac on the altar; but there are other things which are “Isaacs” to you, and which God requires you to surrender; Everything dear to us, whether within or without, may be our Isaac; and oftentimes we find that the most hidden of our idols is our dearest. What can be dearer to you than your own will — that inbred desire to walk where you list, do as you like, and live for yourself? it is your nature; it is like the instinctive love of life; it is that for which the carnal man craves. And God invariably says with respect to this Isaac; “Take him, dear though he be, and offer him up in a place that I will show thee” — that place is Calvary.“  -D.F. Jarman

Calvary. The cross. Does not God call us to take up ours? But how can we, if our hands are already full?

Photo by Gustavo Sousa (unsplash.com)