Dec. 18, 2011

Background Scripture: Genesis 22:1-14

Devotional Reading: Philippians 4:1-20

If you enjoy either arguing or pontificating about the Christian faith, the well-known story of Abraham and Isaac on Mt. Moriah is made-to-order for you. There are so many details to be opinionated about or argued over.

As Theodore Hiebert has written, this “story of Abraham and Isaac is perhaps the most admired and most troubling of all the stories in Genesis … Nowhere in Genesis does a single event contain such a moral paradox for the interpreter.”

The paradox, of course, is the tension between Abraham desiring to obey the call of God and then believing that to do so, he must sacrifice his only son because it appears to be God’s will.
 Furthermore, the birth of Isaac to the elderly Abraham and Sarah was to have been the confirmation of the covenant relationship between God and Abraham.

Did God change His mind at the last minute or had He intended all along not to permit Abraham to do this thing? John H. Marks observed that when Abraham obeyed God’s call to leave his homeland, he had cut himself off from his entire past and now he believes he is being summoned to give up his entire future.

My own mindset again and again asks: Didn’t Abraham think to ask God if he was correctly understanding Him? Did God really intend for Abraham to sacrifice the very child the Lord had given him?

After all, human sacrifice was practiced by many of the Israelites’ neighbors and some scholars think Mt. Moriah may have been just such a site. This was done not in disobedience to what their neighbors believed their god or gods required of them, but they believed it was what their deities required of them.

Promises, promises!

Despite the disagreements, I appreciate this story because it forces us to think, to question and possibly to learn. For one thing, it focuses on our need to respond to God’s revealed will, not with a verbal promise, but obedience.

Do you remember the two brothers who were asked by their father to do a certain task? One said “I will not,” but later actually did as he was asked. The other brother said “I will,” but he did not do it (Mt. 21:31).

Many of us give the Lord a lot of “I wills” without ever getting around to doing what He wants. On Sundays we may sing Mary Brown’s hymn: “I’ll go where you want me to go, dear Lord, o’er mountain or plain or sea; I’ll say what you want me to say, dear Lord, I’ll be what you want me to be.” But this resolve often fails the moment we leave our pews.

We may discuss or even argue about whether Abraham misunderstood God, whether God really would have permitted him to kill his own son, etc., but nothing will undermine our obligation and privilege to obey His will. As Nathaniel Emmons has said, “Obedience to God is the most infallible evidence of sincere and supreme love to him.”

So there is no question regarding our necessity to do the will of God. What may be open to question is in discerning the will of God. Abraham is a sterling example of obedience to God’s will. Where he may be deficient, from our perspective, is in determining what is the will of God.

More tragedy, inhumanity and disobedience have been caused by those who wrongly decide that they clearly understand the divine will. The tragedy of 9/11 is a clear case in point: This barbarous deed was presumably in response to what the terrorists believed their religion desired.

Who’s speaking, please?

Unfortunately, the voice of Satan is often mistaken for that of God. So we must question whether the voice we hear inside us is a divine voice or a demonic one. We must ask ourselves if the command we heard sounds like something the God of Jesus Christ would say.

Abraham can probably be excused for not asking the question because his relationship with God was relatively new. He did not have the example and teachings of Jesus Christ to help him make this distinction. Still, God’s true nature was revealed when he restrained Abraham’s hand.

Centuries later, the Prophet Samuel would confirm: “Surely to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams” (1 Sam, 15:22).

It is still incumbent on us to prayerfully determine what is the will of God. As Paul counseled the Corinthians to “weigh what is said” (1 Cor.14:29), we must weigh the voices, signs or suggestion that come to us. And we have what Abraham did not have on Mount Moriah: The Gospel Jesus Christ.

I hear a lot of snide disdain for WWJD? – “What Would Jesus Do?” – but I personally find it invaluable in discerning and doing God’s will.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication.