"Thou has obeyed my voice."

We read in Gensis 22:1-18 the Biblical account of Abraham's willingness to offer up his own son to God. We see the great faith and trust in God that Abraham displays in these verses.

You know as I read through this portion of Scripture I'm amazed at how much faith the man had for his God. Enough to willingly offer his son, his only son whose birth was a miracle in itself, up to the Lord. Freely. There are no questions from Abraham recorded for us to see here. Just acts of obedience. Did he question God? Maybe, I would like to think however that this man's faith was just so different from any one person's faith that we've ever witnessed in our day and age that he did not ask any questions. I just believe that he simply feared and trusted God.

I believe this is a possiblilty because when young Isaac asks his father where the offering is Abraham simply states, "My son, God will provide himself a lamb..." How hard it must have been for Abraham to utter those words to the son that he was about to offer to God. Yet he went ahead in obedience and placed his son upon the altar.

Now this begs me to stop and contemplate the faith that young Isaac had in his father. Again Scripture doesn't state whether or not Isaac began to get hysterical when he realized that HE was about to be made the offering, it doesn't state that he began to cry and plead for his father to stop what he was doing, Scripture states nothing.

I believe that the faith of his father Abraham had been "caught" by Isaac. I believe that Isaac had seen how his father trusted God, how his father obeyed and loved his God. I believe that Isaac witnessed this so many times and in so many ways that he knew that whatever Abraham was doing he was doing it out of obedience to God.

(Now I am not a Bible scholar and I could have gotten this all wrong but this is just what I believe.)

In reading through these verse a question begins to arise in my mind. What is it that God would have me to bring to Him today? What "sacrifice or offering" does God require of me today? Is He asking me to give up something very precious to me in order to test my faith in Him? Is He asking me to take a step of faith, get out of my comfort zone to do somthing that requires pure faith? What is it? What is He asking of you in your life?

No doubt Abraham loved Isaac immensely, we know this because in verse 2 God says, "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest..." If any One could understand the love of a father for a son I believe it is God Who we know later would eventually offer up His own Son for our sins. How much love there was in Abraham for Isaac yet he had even MORE love for his God!!

What are you holding on to so tightly today that you are afraid of losing? Money, cars, clothes, children, schedules, personal preferences, your own life? What is it that God is asking you to give up that you are afraid to? Maybe He really will take away that thing that you love so much, maybe He won't but the point is FAITH! Try God! Test Him!! Be willing, as Abraham was, to give up for your God what is most precious to you!

In obeying God there is always a blessing to be recieved. Abraham recieved one, will you?