I don’t know about you, but there are many occasions when perusing the Bible that I seem to be mechanically reading the words. Perhaps therein resides the problem: reading verses studying Scripture! Anyway, whatever the message is, such is not clear. Or, if I am searching for a meaning, such is elusive, especially in the Old Testament. Goodness, there are particular passages, which I must have stumbled through plenty of times, and the events still do not make sense. Or, for that matter, have any significant impact. However, there are occasions when I do read a verse or chapter for the twenty-fifth time and - shazzam, the clouds part, the light shines through, and I am able to discern something tangible from an otherwise obscure passage.
Take for instance the Book of Genesis. I could write volumes on what I don't know or understand. Which, as it happens, is pretty much everything. In any event, one passage in particular has caused me discomfort. Actually, not merely the passage, but the whole chapter. Genesis 22. It is/was so dark and seemingly evil. The account where Abraham's faith was tested when God asked him to prove his conviction by giving up his son as a burnt offering. If the sheer audaciousness of that request was not horrific enough, Abraham displayed every intention of following through.
“When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice”; (Genesis 22:9-10, New Living Translation)
Wow, what was Abraham thinking? This boggles my mind. I mean, to begin with, how did he know for sure that the request to relinquish his son was from God? Could this have just as easily been a cleaver ruse by Satan? I surely would have thought so. Even if I realized such was God, I wouldn't do it. Yet, Abraham is fully committed.
Thankfully, immediately before Isaac's life is forfeited, an angel intervenes and counsels Abraham to stop. Which in itself I find crazy, for how does Abraham recognize the angel as doing the bidding for God? He could have very well thought Satan was trying to prevent him from fulfilling God's will.
As mentioned earlier, this passage and its purpose have always been troublesome for me. Too many variables. It's just a horrible, horrible story.
Bumping into this passage one day, I reluctantly read through it. My pace was a little quicker than usual, but I was hoping to avoid all the ramifications. Not to mention, very much laboring to avoid remembering my demons of past. As strange luck would have it, the meaning of the chapter revealed itself: Abraham’s faith was so resolute that he could accept God's request without question or hesitation. Whatever God’s will, Abraham possessed the fervor to embrace such. Conversely, when comparing his faith to ours, we fail in contrast. Grievously, we struggle to accomplish the simplest desires of God. Not that I would expect any of us to go to the extremes that Abraham was willing to endure, but at least we could be more faithful than we are!
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