Slices
Prepare
Sit in stillness, aware of your steady breathing and aware that God is with you.
Bible passage
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.’
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.’
15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, ‘I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.’
19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.
Explore
A 19th century journalist reporting on a horse race (in which the first horse to cross an actual wire was the winner) was the first to use the expression ‘down to the wire’. One could say that God took his provision of an alternative sacrifice ‘down to the wire’.
Amazingly, Abraham just kept going, doing what God said. Isaac’s conception was miraculous, he’d been circumcised as a sign of the covenant, God knew he was the only and much-loved son (v 2). But... was Isaac not the fulfilment of the promise after all (21:12)? Was he to be sacrificed and something else miraculous would happen? What thoughts must have raced across Abraham’s mind!
Then, the angel of the Lord spoke twice from heaven (vs 11,15) with the command to stop and a repeat of God’s future promised blessings. Abraham had passed the test. The sacrificial ram was provided (v 13). Abraham really did trust God.
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that God tests and also provides. It is hard to hold those two characteristics of God together, yet they are both evident throughout Scripture – in the Exodus, the Exile, Christ in the wilderness, in the Garden of Gethsemane. God is faithful.
Respond
We hold our breath when we don’t know what will happen next! Hold your breath now and pray for anyone you know who is being tested. Then breathe out, acknowledging in relief that God knows and he will provide.
Deeper Bible study
Worship God for his love and grace, which enable and prepare us in our journey to pass the daily tests that prepare us for exam day.
You may not be called literally to slay your flesh-and-blood relatives on an altar of wood, to be burnt by fire. However, as part of your calling, God may instruct you to sacrifice something that you consider precious and important. It may be a relationship, activity, tradition – or even a ministry that you offer in service to the Lord. If you were instructed by God to make that sacrifice, would you, like Abraham, be prepared to lay it down in humble obedience? Would you lay it down without any prospect of being able to pick it up again? This is what Abraham had to do. He did not know an angel would prevent the sacrifice (vs 11,12). Abraham’s obedience was more than an exam. Abraham’s obedience and faith were now character traits of who and what he had become. Gone was the deceiving, fear-filled, insecure man. What now stood on Mount Moriah, poised with knife in hand, was a God-fearing, righteous, faith-filled worshipper of the living God.
The book of Hebrews teaches that Abraham believed that if God wanted him to slay Isaac, he could fulfil his promises through Isaac’s life by resurrecting him from the dead.1 Abraham had passed his exam with first-class honours and graduated to the masterclass of faith (vs 12–18).2
Meditate on what Abraham’s reflections may have been in verses 9 and 10. The text portrays solid, unswerving faith. Would you have been as ready as Abraham? God is calling us to lay our all upon the altar of sacrifice. He wants everything! In your faith journey, thank God that he has been preparing you for this moment of sacrifice. His grace will have empowered you.
‘Great is thy faithfulness! / Great is thy faithfulness! / Morning by morning new mercies I see. / All I have needed, thy hand hath provided: / great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.’3
1 Heb 11:19 2 See Gen 17:1 3 TO Chisholm, 1866–1960, ‘Great is thy faithfulness’
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Judges 15,16; Proverbs 9,10
Pray for Scripture Union
Sadly, our 3Sixty residential for 8- to 11-year olds (due to run this weekend) won’t be running this year. Pray for peace for those children that can no longer attend. Also pray for the leaders as they discern the next steps, as the holiday leader steps down this year too.
