Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Abraham's Test

1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied.

2 Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."

3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you."

6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?"
"Yes, my son?" Abraham replied.
"The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"

8 Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together.

9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied.

12 "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." Genesis 22:1-12

As a Mom, this chapter in the Bible always gets me. My children are my world, and I just couldn't imagine being willing to sacrifice them to God in this manner. I read this chapter and I am so grateful to Jesus for being willing to take the place of the ritual sacrifices. He made the ultimate sacrifice so that we don't have to. And yet...

Maybe there's a different message here. One of giving your child, your gift, back to God. I wonder what went through Abraham's mind as he prepared to sacrifice Isaac. He had great faith in God, and I wonder if he thought he was merely sending Isaac back to God in Heaven. Thankfully, God intervened. He saw Abraham's heart and knew that Abraham would do anything for his God and spared Isaac's life. Instead of taking his son, God allowed Abraham to mentor Isaac and share the love of God with him. This carried on through Isaac's life and to his sons after him.

But let's think in terms other than children. Think about the gifts you possess, the talents that God has blessed you with. It's always at the forefront of my mind how I can use my gifts for God. How can I give my gifts back to God in a manner that pleases him? How can I use my gift of cooking for his glory? How can I use my gift of writing, and the gift of hospitality? How can I use the gift of homemaking? Many of these I still don't have answers for. The only one I know about at the moment is the gift of homemaking. I use my talent at cleaning to clean God's House once a week. To many, that may not be a talent, but I assure you, I have seen people who did not know how to clean properly. How can I use my gift of hospitality more? That I still don't know. We host our small group in our home, but I sense there is going to be more to come of the hospitality. And the rest...cooking? I have no idea. I know God has a purpose for that more than simply feeding my family (albeit important) but that has yet to be revealed to me.

But I think one way that you find out how you can use your talents for God is to give them to him in the first place. You say here Lord, here is my talent, use it in whatever way you see fit. To many of us, our talents are precious to us, like Isaac was precious to Abraham. Would you pass the test? Would I pass the test? If God asked me to give up something precious for his glory, could I do it? That's an attitude to strive for, to be able to say, Yes, Lord, here is my talent.

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