'Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham,
and said to him, Abraham!"
And he said, "Here I am."
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."
So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey,
and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son;
and he split the wood for the burnt offering,
and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
(Genesis 22:1-3)
Yesterday, as I pondered submission, Abraham came to mind.
This is the most extreme request made of a man.
Consider how he received it:
with swift, silent obedience.
It's stunning.
Earlier in his life, before the birth of this beloved son,
Abraham had a remarkable conversation with God.
God came to him, to give him the promise of this son,
who would be born through his barren wife, Sarah.
'And the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing,
since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation,
and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
For I have known him, in order that he may command his children
and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD,
to do righteousness and justice,
that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him."
And the LORD said, "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great,
and because their sin is very grave,
I will go down now and see
whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it
that has come to Me;
and if not, I will know."'
Abraham's response to this announcement is notable.
First, he doesn't launch into his own words in the presence of the other two who were there.
That's interesting to me.
'Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom,
but Abraham still stood before the LORD.
It appears that when they were alone, he appealed to Him with his concerns.
'And Abraham came near and said,
"Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city;
would You also destroy the place and not spare it
for the fifty righteous that were in it?
Far be it from You to do such a thing as this,
to slay the righteous with the wicked,
so that the righteous should be as the wicked;
far be it from You!
Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"
God wants Abraham to know His heart, to know His mind.
He wants His character to be known by His friend --
that he might pass that knowledge on to his children.
And He brought this announcement as an opportunity to Abraham.
And Abraham rose to it.
The sheer audacity of his bargaining gives me chills every time I read it.
My heart fills, and I love them both:
the Lord, who lets his friend drive a hard bargain with Him;
and the bold but gentle man who keeps pushing for just ten more.
Read on, and learn His nature for yourself. It's in Genesis 18.
'So the LORD went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham;
and Abraham returned to his place.'
This is not a man who withheld his requests from the Lord.
On another occasion, when God came to him
and told him He was his shield, and his great reward,
Abraham immediately responded with,
"What will You give me since I have no heir?"
This man is an intercessor.
He asks for what he wants, and God has already given him his heart's desire,
though He made him wait long for it.
And the day comes where God asks of him the unthinkable.
But something has happened to Abraham in his long waiting on God.
In his years of holding onto the promised fruitfulness
that only grew more barren as the years went on.
Imagine watching your wife wither and wither, and your own vigor drain,
and believing on year after year in spite of it.
And then, beyond all hope, laughter entered their empty arms.
They saw life come from their good-as-dead bodies.
Joy from ashes.
His name finally had a meaning that wasn't a mockery of his dreams.
And God asked him for it.
"Give Me your son,
your only son.
The one you love."
Give Me back the laughter.
And we don't hear a word of protest from Abraham.
Not one word of intercession.
He just gets up early to obey.
Hebrews tells us he offered Isaac by faith,
concluding that God was able to raise him up,
even from the dead.
But I think there was also just a quiet trust he had learned
in all these years of doing business with God.
He trusted HIM.
So much so, that a request for his life's hope,
and the crowning joy of his years
was offered with an open hand.
He doesn't have any hesitation
in giving all his most precious loves into the hands of the Lord.
He knows God is good.
And he knows God is good for every word that He's said to him.
No wonder God loves him so much.
