The Lord Will Provide
Genesis 22:1-2, 6b-14
Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take you son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and the wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
Hebrews 11:1-2, 17-19
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.
By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”
Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.
If you are anything like me, sometimes you really wished the Bible gave more details. To me, this Biblical narrative, the testing of Abraham, is one of those moments. It leaves me with questions like: “How did Abraham handle the turmoil in his soul during the 3 long days of traveling?” “How old was Isaac? Did Isaac expect something was up and when the time came? Was he full of trust in his earthly father and Heavenly Father that he lay down willingly on that altar to be sacrificed? He must have been stronger than his aging father and could have run off, if not physically resisted his father...?”
It is striking to me, that as God gives His command to sacrifice Isaac, He emphasizes the cost of obedience to Abraham. Your son, your only son, whom you love. Isaac was the only son of the promise. Does this sound familiar? God at that moment knew exactly what He Himself would have to do 2000 years later because of His love for us. He also would give up His beloved Son, whom He loved, as the ultimate sacrifice.
Abraham had quite some time, really, a whole night and 3 days following to reason that he could not have possibly understood God correctly. But Abraham didn’t question. He obeyed, without delay. Hebrews tells us that Abraham’s faith in God’s promises was so great that he knew without a doubt that God would bring Isaac back to life or provide in another way. Abraham responds to God’s calling with “Here I am” a response of a servant, humble, obedient.
What does this all tell us? I believe the real test in our lives is, will we be not “just” obedient, but also obedient when it is costly, with big personal sacrifice?
When God says to Abraham: “Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from Me your son...” does that mean God didn’t know what Abraham would do and He needed to find out? God knows all things. Or is it because Abraham needed to know that his faith was real, that God was the keeper of His promises, and that no trial would overcome his faith?
It wasn’t Abraham’s first experience with God, Abraham had a long relationship with God. He knew His character. “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen 18:25).
This great testimony of Abraham’s faith and his righteousness, strengthens our faith in return, as it has done so many believers over all the generations after Abraham. A faith to believe without a doubt, even in light of personal loss, that God WILL keep His promises, and that God is good.
We all have our trials, although they might not be quite as agonizing and disturbing as Abraham’s but it is worth pondering: “Can we even know that God is faithful and will provide until life has given us reason to doubt His faithfulness?” Can we say together with Job, “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him” (Job 13:15a)?
Again, the Bible does not tell us how old Isaac was at this time. Considering Abraham’s age and Isaac’s physical ability to carry all the wood needed for the fire, I think Isaac shared Abraham’s faith and trusted the Lord and his earthly father so much that he himself laid down willingly to be sacrificed. What a picture of the Son, Jesus Christ, who truly WAS sacrificed, and knew there was no other way than death on the cross, to redeem us, who are so loved by His Father.
“The Lord will provide” Abraham answered Isaac, full of faith. And God indeed provided. He provided then, and it also served as a foreshadowing of the ultimate, once and for all sacrifice of Jesus on the cross!
The Lord WILL provide, let’s live in that promise, as His beloved children, let’s remember it even in times of the testing of our faith, that we may live by faith and not by sight.