Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

Genesis 22:1-3
After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." He said, "Take 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, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

As I continue the study of the road to humility the next stop I will take is to look at Abraham and his interaction with God on the point of submission to the divine will even when it seems contradictory to promise.

God here tests Abraham to see where his allegiance lies. Is Abraham's allegiance to the promise and the reward that God offered him, or is his allegiance to God Himself? Based upon the test itself, which was to put to death the very channel to fulfill the promise, it can be seen that Abraham's allegiance lies in God. Abraham sees God as his great reward and not just promise. The promise of the reward was deeper than the physical promise, it was a spiritual promise for a spiritual inheritance found only in Jesus Christ. However, there was a physical promise tied to it, for Christ would come through his offspring as well. However, Abraham knew and believed God's promise, but he also knew that God and His promise were absolutely sure no matter what the actual circumstances were.

Abraham knew Jesus Christ was the ultimate fulfillment of the promise, and thus, though painful as it was to him, he decided to give up the promise as he thought it should be in order to obey God, and keep the relationship with God, and trust God for the fulfillment of the promise in God's way and not his.

Another thing to know is that he didn't just do what he was commanded, but he did it as soon as he could. Abraham obeyed God quickly and thoroughly.

The God of the promise would fulfill His promise to Abraham, even if it was through some other means. As was written in Hebrews 11:17-19:

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, "Through Isaac shall your offspring be named." He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

This thinking and Abraham's reaction proves that Abraham looked to God and his relationship with God as the one thing that he valued most. Abraham valued God and his proper relationship with him more than how he thought the promise would be fulfilled, more than the happiness he found in his family, and even in his son of his old age, more than any questions he may have had about God's strange order. Yes, Abraham was humble. He loved God more than himself, and he thought about God and His will for Him as truly the best thing for Him.

Abraham acted and lived in such a way to show and prove that God was his only and ultimate joy and reward in life. God was more important than anything else in this life to Abraham.

Oh Lord, may my heart be passionately consumed with You, such that I will have you as my only reward. Let me obey you even if it does not seem advantageous to me, and may I value Christ more than anything else. In Christ, amen.