Love and life on the line

Today: Genesis 22-24

Have you ever been asked to give up something that meant the world to you?

In today's passage, Abraham was faced with that exact dilemma. God asked him to sacrifice his son Isaac...the promised miracle child Abraham had waited for years....and years...and years to receive (and did I mention that God was the one who promised Abraham the son?). Abraham trusted God and headed to a mountain to put his love and his son's life on the line:

They arrived at the place to which God had directed him.

Abraham built an altar. He laid out the wood.

Then he tied up Isaac and laid him on the wood.

Abraham reached out and took the knife to kill his son.
Just then an angel of God called to him out of Heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"
"Yes, I'm listening."
"Don't lay a hand on that boy! Don't touch him!

Now I know how fearlessly you fear God;

you didn't hesitate to place your son,

your dear son,

on the altar

for me."
Abraham looked up.

He saw a ram caught by its horns in the thicket.

Abraham took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering

instead of his son.

Abraham named that place God-Yireh (God-Sees-to-It).

Abraham was willing to put something he dearly loved on the line for God. But instead, God saved Abraham's son by providing a ram for the sacrifice. Abraham called the entire place God-Yireh--which means basically "God sees and provides."

What's really interesting about this story when you think about it (and when you're reading the Bible in reverse like we are this year!) is the fact that God provided more than a ram. Not only did He spare Abraham from proving his love by killing his son, He actually went through the exact same thing. God proved His love by sacrificing His Son, Himself...for Abraham's descendants...and for all of us, too. He put His love and His life on the line.

Tomorrow: Genesis 25-26