6/26/2023 Here I amGenesis 22:1-14 God calls Abraham to do an unimaginable thing – to sacrifice his son. His son, Isaac, was promised by God as part of Abraham’s call – “I will make of you a great nation,” in Gen. 12:2. Yet, Sarah and Abraham had to wait an infinitely long time for God’s dream to come to pass. After it does, God calls Abraham to sacrifice the very dream that God initiated. God calls Abraham to surrender the call placed upon his life -- to offer it as an act of worship. God’s command was to “offer your son as a burnt offering” (v.2). They sacrificed animals as “burnt offerings” as an act of worship. Ancient worship offered first-born sacrifices, so it did not seem so surprising for Abraham at the time. But, it is interesting that God would call Abraham to sacrifice the very thing that was given to him – the call on his life. Notice, in verse 2, God says, “the one whom you love,” as an important distinction. Perhaps Abraham loved the call a little too much. His ego took precedence. He fell in love with being “the Father of a great nation,” more than he loved God. Perhaps he even worshipped the call more than the originator of the call, so God placed a new call on his life – to realign his worship. Sometimes God places a call on our lives and in the process of it coming to pass, through the long years of waiting, we get lost in the process. We begin to love the thing we’re waiting for or working toward a little too much, and we might even begin to worship the call more than God. Sometimes, God’s gifts become idols themselves, and God may call us to offer them as an act of worship. God may call us to give it back to God in order to realign our focus on the giver rather than the gift. What I find most interesting is how Abraham answers God. When God calls, Abraham says, “Here I am” (v.1). The Message Bible interprets it as, “I’m listening.” When God calls us, do we respond by saying, “I’m listening?” Not often. We’re usually so busy living our lives by our own making and meddling, that we have to say, “Here I am” to let God know where we are. “I’m over here, God, busy living my life.” When God places a new call for Abraham, he does listen to God and gets busy preparing for it. He gathers the resources needed – the supplies and the people – before beginning his journey on this new call. He goes all the way to making the sacrifice, when God calls him again, and thankfully, Abraham was listening this time too. It saved Isaac’s life. It saved the original call placed on his life when Abraham was willing to sacrifice it. Can you imagine what would have happened if he didn’t listen to God? He could have lost not only his son, but his whole work of bringing about the people of God. Sometimes God calls us to sacrifice something only to see if we’re willing to sacrifice it. Our willingness is the sacrifice that realigns our focus on God. While living your life, do you listen for God? How do you answer God? Do you say, “Over here, God, doing my thing” or do you say, “I’m listening” while waiting for the next step? We have to listen to know each step of God’s guidance. Even when God corrects us for falling in love with the call more than falling in love with God, the command is for our own good and for the good of the call. How can you alter the way you answer God? How can you show God that you are listening? Comments are closed.
|