"Abraham said, 'God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.'"
-Genesis 22:8
This is the last lesson of the Genesis Bible Academy, and I'm really glad I decided to do it. I learned a lot about God and different characters in the Bible, and I hope you who read this blog learned something as well. This chapter discusses Abraham's "final test", where God tests his faith. God tells Abraham to take his son Issac, and sacrifice him as a burnt offering. Keep in mind that Abraham had to wait 25 years for Issac to be born, and that Issac is now about 10-15 years old now. This means that Abraham has been walking with God for about 35 years.
When God told Abraham to sacrifice Issac, Abraham was probably very confused and angry. If he felt these things, he did not show it. Instead, Abraham wakes up early the next morning to go and do as God commanded him. Issac and Abraham go to a mountain, and Abraham gets ready to kill his son. As he lifts the knife, an angel calls to Abraham and tells him to stop. The angel tells Abraham that God saw that he was willing to sacrifice Issac and that he fears God.
This is a crazy story of Abraham's faith in God. Abraham was overjoyed when Issac was born, and cherished him as he grew older. When God tells him to sacrifice Issac, Abraham immediately obeys, and he would have killed Issac if God did not intervene. Abraham had a choice to listen to God, or to ignore God's insane command. Abraham now had to prove that he loved God more than he loved Issac. Now that Abraham had seen God's power and faithfulness, Abraham chose to trust God and sacrifice Issac. Abraham believed that God could resurrect Issac, because God had promised that Abraham's descendants would be through Issac.
There are times when we will have to choose whether to obey God or ignore Him. The choice will not always be easy, as He may ask us to give up what we value the most. Issac meant the world to Abraham, and giving him up would crush Abraham. However, because Abraham trusted God, he decided it was worth giving up Issac in order to obey God. When we have to give up something we value a lot, we have to keep in mind that God is greater than everything. If something is getting in the way of us loving God, we have to make the decision to give it up. We have to trust that God loves us more than we could ever deserve.
-Smart
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