Genesis 22:3-10

2007.Dec.21 02:07

Obedience by Step

Read Genesis 22:3-10 | Full Chapter

So Abraham got up early the next morning and chopped wood for the fire. He put a saddle on his donkey and left with Isaac and two servants for the place where God had told him to go. Three days later Abraham looked off in the distance and saw the place. He told his servants, “Stay here with the donkey, while my son and I go over there to worship. We will come back.” Abraham put the wood on Isaac’s shoulder, but he carried the hot coals and the knife. As the two of them walked along, Isaac said, “Father, we have the coals and the wood, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” “My son,” Abraham answered, “God will provide the lamb.” The two of them walked on, and when they reached the place that God had told him about, Abraham built an altar and placed the wood on it. Next, he tied up his son and put him on the wood. He then took the knife and got ready to kill his son.
(Genesis 22:3-10, CEV)

“Faith without works,” James reminds us, "is dead" (James 2:26, NASB) . I’m not in the mood to focus on Abraham’s faith. Of course he had faith. He’d already sent off a son and a (former?) lover on the basis of God promising to take care of them. So, now he’s going to sacrifice one. Yay, he has faith. Okay, so what? I’m not sure it’s of any value to read this passage and just say, “Abraham had faith”.

After reading Mark 4 a few days ago, I had these thoughts:

Consistently have faith and be obedient. The farmer didn’t understand how the seed grew, but he had faith that it would and therefore did the work required of him, preparing, planting, fertilizing and harvesting. It requires consistency. Those who let their reception of God’s word be choked by cares of the world, those who spring up quickly with no root, could have never lasted to the harvest; in the former case, they probably wouldn’t have even obeyed to the planting. Faith and obedience are inseparable in the kingdom of heaven. In many ways, they are two sides of the same. But with such faith, the return can be incredible.

Here, Abraham has faith, but it is his obedience which makes that faith matter. He could have had faith that Yahweh could raise or rescue Isaac and not actually acted at all toward that end. Instead, he had faith, and then through that faith, acted in obedience. "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son" (Hebrews 1:17, NASB) .

This thought reminds me of an article by Joel Spolsky entitled “Fire and Motion”. The article talks about applying the fire and motion military strategy to software development. In his conclusion, Spolsky states simply, “you have to move forward every day”. I think that’s an important part of pursuing righteousness, of becoming more obedient. You simply aren’t going to get saved and be super-obedient person. Actually, you’re not going to be there 50 years later. And that can get discouraging. I don’t know Abraham’s frame of mind, but if I were in his shoes, I would not be thinking about being atop the mountain; I’d focus on getting there. Abraham starts by obeying, he starts by moving. Ultimately, Abraham has obeyed enough that he finds himself at the point of actually sacrificing his son. Fortunately, as it will turn out, Yahweh has no intention of Abraham carrying through with the act.

Often Yahweh asks people to do things we never think we could do. But if we’ll obey him in the first step, then the second, then the third…