A Moriah experience

[RedMage]

Sometimes I think of Abraham
How one star he saw had been lit for me
He was a stranger in this land
And I am that no less than he

-Rich Mullins

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And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ***, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ***; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.

And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,

And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:

That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

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The application for this story, in Genesis 22, is familiar and obvious: Abraham was willing to give up his son for God; what are we willing to give up for Him?

Before Isaac's birth, Abraham enjoyed a wonderfully close and faithful relationship with God, and God had blessed him with tremendous wealth and prosperity. But there was something missing in Abraham's life: he had no children. He had no heir - after his death, all of the abundance God had bestowed on him would pass on not to his own flesh and blood but to his servant. Despite all God had given him, do you think there were times when this made Abraham feel unfulfilled? Inadequate? Like a failure? Abraham and Sarah tried taking matters into their own hands in an effort to fill this void, having Abraham father a son by Sarah's handmaid, Hagar.

But God's ways are not man's ways. Along came Isaac. The miracle baby. The last, best expression of God's love and graciousness to Abraham. The crown jewel in Abraham's life. The completion, the fulfillment, the legacy.

And then, in Genesis 22, God tells Abraham to willingly give up this gift.
The angel tells Abraham that God now knows Abraham's love for Him, because he was willing to sacrifice his only son. But I don't think that's quite accurate. The one who searches minds and hearts and knows us better than we know ourselves didn't need proof of Abraham's love and faithfulness.

I believe God doesn't test us so He can assess our condition, He test us so we can assess our own condition. God knows how much we love Him, but He test us so that we can find out how much we love Him. Often, we find out it's not as much as we'd like to think we do. (It goes without saying that we can never love Him as much as we should.)

So if there's nothing God can learn about Abraham, what did Abraham learn about himself during that journey to Mount Moriah? Horrible as it would be to be forced to kill your own child, of course, do you think Abraham realized that much of the reason for the anguish he was undoubtedly feeling was that everything he had pinned his satisfaction, his validation, and his dreams of the future on was on the verge of disappearing? Abraham was willing to give it up for God, of course, and he deserves all the credit in the world for that, and I don't think anybody would suggest that he should have been able to prepare to kill his own son without any distress or that we should be able to blithely give up anything valuable to us with perfect cheerfulness. But do you think Abraham looked inside himself on the journey to the mountain and didn't like what he saw?

God has put me through a bit of a test lately, and I've been forced to assess myself, and I don't like a lot of what I've seen. I've figured out a lot of things about myself, and many of them haven't been pleasant. I've been discontented and ungrateful for what God has given me now, worrying about what He'll give me in the future or trying to grab hold of blessings that aren't mine to have yet and may never be. I've been finding validation and identity in the love and fellowship of people rather than the love and fellowship of God. In relating to people who've done a great deal for me, I haven't paid enough attention to the one who did the greatest thing of all. I've been depending on people as me support and my safety net and my certainty when only God can ultimately provide those things.

Do you think Abraham's hand was trembling when he reached for the knife? Do you think it trembled more after the angel told him he didn't have to do it? Do you think as he walked back down the mountain, he was almost ashamed to look his son in the eye? Do you think he was ashamed to look God in the eye, inside himself?

But God was ready to forgive him as soon as he asked, and it would have been even more sinful for Abraham to let his shame take away the son God had let him keep.