Faith, Bread, and Isaac

 

My mom bakes her own home made puertorican bread. You could eat it in a sandwich, with some butter, or even just heating it up. It’s delicious either way. One day, we ran out of bread and I had to eat a sliced bread sandwich. As I was eating, I was like “I can’t eat this. This is garbage. Mom’s bread has ruined every bread on the market.” That’s how good it is. That’s life in Christ.

In Genesis 22:1-18 it says:

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. 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 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.”

 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

As I was reading this story, the person that drew me in was Abraham. Not so much who he had to sacrifice, but his willingness to do so.

Not once in this passage do we see Abraham even thinking twice about obeying God. It amazed me when I read it. He was the promised son. The only son from his wife that was supposed to inherit everything he had. Not only that, but he was really old. He was 100 years old when he had Isaac and Sarah, his wife, was 90 years old. Isaac was definitely the promised son. So what father, earthly father, would sacrifice his son just like that? I know if it was me, I would at least ask God a couple of questions. Like why? Why? WHY?!!

There’s something else that caught my attention. When he was on his way to obey God he tells his servants to wait somewhere on the way because they were going to come back down after they worship God and then he told his son when he asked about what he was going to sacrifice that God would provide on the way. As I was meditating on this, I wondered if he was in the denial, but I quickly threw out that idea because as we read later on, he was just about the sacrifice his son when an angel stopped him.

I came to the conclusion that even though Abraham knew he had to sacrifice his son, he practically prophesied what would happen. God stopped the sacrifice, gave him an A++, he provided him with the lamb, they worshiped him, and went home. He believed in what God’s plan was for his life. He had to lean on the promises God had already spoken about his life and his son’s life to be able to do it. He had to “Trust in the Lord with all [his] heart and lean not on [his] own understanding, in all [his] ways submit to Him and He directed [his] path” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Shouldn’t we believe, trust, and love God the same way? Even though that thing or person was promised by God, just sacrifice that in a blink of an eye because we love and trust God. It’s a faith that doesn’t make sense. The enemy will whisper in your ear that what you have to give up is better than what God has for you. He will always try to convince you to stop trusting God, to stop loving God, to stop living for God. He will always try to entice you with the things that he has to offer which is nothing.

Everything that God has to offer us is like my mom’s bread. It’s delicious and it will ruin everything else for you because it’s that good. You can’t stop eating it.

Then maybe we should trust that whatever God has is delicious and will fill us up even if it’s difficult to sacrifice. What God has to offer is a million times better than what the enemy ever can. the enemy is the owner of nothing, creator of nothing, and anything he has was given by God in the beginning. How about we stop falling for the same old lame tricks that were done in the garden and we start trusting God with all the faith that Abraham had. Remember this: Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Let’s pray about it:

Dad,

We come before you to thank you for all your promises for us and the blessings that have already been released in our lives. We thank you God because you have already given us more than we could ever deserve. I know there are some things and/or people that I have to give up and even though it’s difficult, I will trust you and will believe that what you have for me is better than what I have now. I glorify and praise you in spite of my feelings. I trust you because you are the father that provides. I love you God!  

Amen.