There are things that children look forward to doing with their fathers. It is those times when they get to “go with Daddy” on some special job or errand that makes them feel all grown up. For little boys especially, a trip to the hardware store, the auto parts store or, better yet, the junkyard, gives them the feeling that they are a welcome part of this mysterious club called “grown ups”.
You might imagine Isaac’s pride when his father Abraham put him to bed early saying, “We have to get an early start in the morning.” Imagine how proud he was when his father told the servants to stay behind while he and his son went on alone. He was probably fit to be tied when his father asked him to carry the wood for the fire! Just a boy and his father heading out into the wilderness to make a sacrifice to God, but where is the lamb?
Loving fathers have feelings about their children that are hard to express. Somewhere in between pride and adoration, the true love of a father flows from a deep well of joy. Doubtless, it hurt Abraham to hear his son ask where the sacrifice was. He watched Isaac scramble up the slope under his burden, determined to not let his father down. Abraham’s heart must have broken. How could he tell him?
“Father, we have wood and fire but where is the lamb?”
“The Lord himself will provide…”
The Lord! How could he ask such a thing? After all he had already asked of Abraham – how could he do this? Abraham had waited for this child, his beloved son, Isaac. He was a child of promise, the symbol of everything God had asked him to do. When this living God told him to go and leave his father’s false gods behind he had obediently followed. And now, here he was asking Abraham to sacrifice his son just like all those other gods he had left behind. Abraham had left hearth and home and for what, just another God?!
But no, there had to be more to it than that. What was it about Abraham that would make God put him in this situation? What was it about God that Abraham should follow such a command?
Did God need reassurance that Abraham was worth the investment? Did he need proof of Abraham’s faith? What doubts could God have about Abraham’s intentions?
It seems that God had more doubt about Abraham than Abraham had of Him for; rising early he patiently and deliberately went about the nasty business. Saddling his donkey, did he remember how God had been faithful to him ever since the day he had left Ur? While chopping the wood for the fire, did he remember how God had haggled with him over the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, showing compassion for the sake of just ten righteous people? On the long journey to Moriah, Abraham took up the fire and the knife.
In plodding silence Abraham and Isaac set out on the last few miles of the journey alone. As the puzzled faces of his servants melted into the distance, Isaac broke the awkward silence.
“Father!”
“Here I am son.”
“The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
Abraham could no longer shroud his thoughts in silence.
Isaac’s question forced him to give voice either to his doubt or his faith.
“God himself will provide a lamb for a burnt offering my son.”
The two of them walked on together with this creed ringing in their ears. For Abraham it was a statement of faith that the God who had provided for him in the past would again respond to his faithful obedience. For Isaac it was an insight into his father’s heart, an invitation to follow. The two walked on together.
Something in Abraham’s heart told him that no, indeed, this was not just another god finally showing his true colors. This was not some blood thirsty stick of wood like his father used to carve. This God could speak. This God could act. This God could call.
Abraham had known this God for a long time. He had given up his past to him and now, if need be, he would trust him with his future.
What was it about his father that allowed Isaac to lay down upon that pyre? Did he have faith in his father, his father’s god, or did he have faith in the God of his father’s testimony? At the moment Isaac let himself be bound and laid upon the wood he committed himself to his father’s creed. “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”
How far would God let this thing go? How much taste for brinkmanship does God have? Would he vindicate their faith by resurrecting Isaac, restoring him to his father? Would he let it go that far? How much proof did he need?
Knife poised, fire at the ready, a voice calling out, “Abraham, Abraham!”
“Here I am.”
“Do not lay your hand upon the boy 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.” There, with its head encircled, ensnared by a thorny thicket, lay the offering prepared by God – a mighty ram – the vindication of a father’s faith. It seems we always demand signs and miracles from God. We want him to prove his faithfulness to us, al the while expecting him to take us at our word. The truth is he has shown himself faithful time and time again. It is we who may need to show evidence of our faith. God seeks to be our past, our present and our future. Will we be faithful trust? Will we follow?