Faith and Insanity

I highly doubt that any American would have passed the faith-test Abraham did in Genesis 22. We are far too committed to our reason and ideals. And I, for one, would have found a dozen reasons or more why it hadn't been God who had told me to sacrifice my only son. Obviously child sacrifice is something abhorrent to a God of goodness and love, so a directive like that could not have come from my God. We Americans are well trained, through history and philosophy, in evaluating our "unalienable rights." Following Adams, Jefferson and Madison we carefully define our rights and establish our lives on the truths we have declared "self-evident." The North Star that guides us is a commitment to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." God's command to Abraham violated all three of those core commitments, and so I would not have obeyed it.

But Abraham did. And he is repeatedly elevated in Scripture as a man of faith, largely for this life altering moment. The turning point of the story comes when Isaac, only a young boy, looks up at Abraham on the third day of their journey and asks, "Father, I see the wood and the fire for sacrifice, but where is the lamb?" Perhaps Abraham had long rehearsed his answer or maybe the Spirit withheld these prophetic words until this precise moment. Either way, this Father's response conveys the depth of his confidence in the God he had been walking with for decades: "God himself will provide the lamb."

The author of Hebrews further elaborates that Abraham's decision to slaughter his only son, the son of the promise, was based on his belief that God could raise the dead, "and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death" (Heb. 11:19). Abraham was not fundamentally committed to his own happiness or freedom or even the life of his precious child. He did not base his decisions on his ability to reason out clear explanations. He simply listened to God and acted - throwing himself recklessly, completely upon His Father's will.

Ah, to be less Rationally American and more Faithfully Christian.