LIFE SCRIPTS

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.
Genesis 22:1‭-‬3 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/gen.22.1-3.NIV

God is a God of blessings. However, do we follow and believe in Him because of the blessings He offers to us or because we love Him? Isaac was the old age son of Abraham. He was a child of the promise. One who would carry the seed of promise God had given to Abraham. Abraham and Sarah had waited for a long time for the fulfillment of this promise. Now, it seemed as if things were on course for Abraham to have descendants courtesy of his son Isaac. Not until God gave him these instructions in this passage. How could it be that a God who had gifted His faithful servant with a son would again desire to take him away from him? Well, God’s intention wasn’t to take Isaac away from Abraham but to test Abraham as stated in verse 1. To make matters as clear as day, in verse 2, God emphasized to Abraham, ‘ Take your son, your only son whom you love, Isaac…’. In the same way centuries later, Christ, God’s only Son, whom He loves would descend onto earth, live among us and be killed by men to redeem the same men from sin. The story of Isaac was a representation of the story of Christ. Isaac had been a gift. During his birth, Sarah laughed and rejoiced. When he was being weaned, Abraham prepared a huge feast. Like his name, Isaac had brought joy and laughter in the household of Abraham. But he was a gift from God. The same God Abraham had believed and trusted in even before Isaac came. This time, He was instructing him to sacrifice his son. What’s very eye catching about Abraham’s response in verse 3 is that he got up ‘ early next morning’, saddled his donkey and set on a journey to Moriah together with Isaac and two of his servants. Scripture records of no response from Abraham. He simply obeyed. Obedience is simple but not all that easy. At times, obeying God looks absurd and out of this world. Yet He calls us to obey Him. I’m sure questions must have been racing in Abraham’s mind. But he chose not to entertain them but to obey. Abraham had all the right to ‘hold onto’ Isaac. But would he have ‘held onto’ his son against the will of the One who had granted him? He could have justified that he believed in God even when his faith looked empty in the sight of others. He left his homeland and went as God directed him. All this he did because God had promised him a son. How could God decide now to take this same son away? Abraham knew that the God he believed in owes him nothing, acts in sovereignty and could give him more children as He chose. His faith was faith in his Maker and not in what He has made; faith in the Giver and not in the gift; faith in the Blesser and not in the blessing; faith in God and not in his son, Isaac. At times, gifts God has blessed us with could blind us from following Him. Sometimes, God tests us to see where our true allegiance lies…in the blessings or in Him? Letting go of a much awaited and valuable gift is not all easy. So what shall our take be when the Giver of the gift asks us to let go of it? Will we continue holding onto it or obey Him as we trust Him all the more? Are our hearts ready to lose all that we have for the sake of God? Remember, all that we have is a gift from Him. If we lose all, we are still blessed because we still remain in Him.