Blogging Genesis 22
Genesis 22: 1 Now
it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him,
“Abraham!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
2 Then He said, “Take now 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.”
We know. But he didn’t.
We know the stories
of God bringing the dead back to life (1 Kings 17:17-24; 2 Kings 4:35; Luke
7:13-15; John 11:43-44; Matthew 28:5-7;etc.).
We know that God provides a substitutionary sacrifice for those who trust
in Him. We know that it was all a test of
how deep Abraham’s faith was. We know
that God wasn’t really going to let Abraham kill his son.
But Abraham didn’t
know any of this.
Abraham only knew the stories from the first 21 chapters of Genesis. He didn’t have pslams singing of God’s grace, mercy,
and love, or apostles explaining the sacrifice of Jesus the lamb of God. All Abraham knew was that he was over
100 years old and he had exactly 2 children.
He was estranged from Ishmael, his firstborn and now God wanted him to
kill the only son he had left.
But Abraham also
knew that God had promised him descendants through Isaac, and Isaac had to be alive for that
to happen. So despite what he didn’t know, Abraham knew enough about God to
BELIEVE something new.
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered
up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten
son, of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” 19 concluding
that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also
received him in a figurative sense. (Hebrews 11:17-18)
Abraham had believed God would give him the land of Canaan, but 30-plus years later and he
was a still glorified squatter who didn’t even own a place to bury his dead
(Genesis 23). Abraham had believed God would give him
children. But Ishmael took 11 years and
an unauthorized polygamous marriage, and Isaac came 14 more years, a full two-and-a-half
decades after God’s original promise.
Abraham believed God
but he didn’t know how long he would have to go on believing God over his son’s
charred, dead body. Abraham BELIEVED that no matter how horrible things went on the mountain, the lad and I will . . . come back to you (Genesis 22:5).
So you could argue that
Abraham walked Isaac up Mount Moriah as an act of blind faith, but you have to recognize that it wasn't an
act of DEAF faith.
Abraham LISTENED to
God’s promises. He LISTENED to God’s command to take Isaac up on Mount
Moriah. And in the midst of the
emotional turmoil of that horrible moment with the knife upraised, Abraham was
still LISTENING. He heard the voice of
the angel and then he knew.
Abraham stretched out his hand and took the
knife to slay his son. But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and
said, “Abraham, Abraham. . . Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to
him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son,
your only son, from Me.”
(Genesis 22: 10-12)
Like Abraham, you
and I spend a lot of time not knowing, and not knowing that we don’t know.
Sometimes the task God sets before you right now seems to disagree with the promise God made back when you started this path. You don’t know how in the world THIS can lead to THAT. Sometimes you can’t understand how, but you can be sure of WHO.
Focus on God. Pray the way you prayed when you first
believed, when you first KNEW that God was speaking to you. Serve, worship, fast, study, meditate, LISTEN
like you did when you KNEW that God was calling you a new path. Cut out all the distractions. Be still and KNOW that He is God and you will
know if this new pursuit is of God. When
you know that it’s God WHO is telling you to climb the mountain, BELIEVE, but
keep LISTENING.
Before you SEE what else God has waiting, you have to
HEAR what God has to say about what you’re doing now.
---Anderson T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer and
consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T.
Graves II is pastor of
Miles Chapel CME Church in
Fairfield, Alabama; executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth
Networking Organization
(SAYNO); and director of rural leadership
development for the National Institute for Human Development (
NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Support by check or
money order may be mailed to
Miles Chapel CME
Church
P O Box 132
Fairfield, Al 35064
