iCrucified

[25JAN2012] A Ram in the Bush

The other day while taking my son to school, I heard the tail end of an interview with musical recording artist, David Crowder. He was answering questions responding to the recent announcement of the dissolution of his band. The words he spoke that caught my attention were these; “If you’re obedient in your sacrifice, there’s always a ram in the bush.” David was making reference to the Genesis narrative recounting the story of Abraham’s call to sacrifice his son Isaac (Genesis 22:1-24). I haven’t been able to escape the thoughts those words have evoked…and my thoughts have nothing to do with the end of the David Crowder Band.

The account of Abraham and Isaac begins as follows:

Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called.

     “Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am.” 

“Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”

One of the first things that grab my attention is the opening line; “God tested Abraham’s faith.” Several thoughts come to my mind about this. First, I don’t think this is the first time that God “tested Abraham’s faith.” Abraham leaving his family for “a place I will show you” was a test of faith. And, so it would seem to me, that most of Abraham’s life subsequent to leaving his father and family in Ur was a series of ongoing tests of his faith. Second, what made this test so much more severe than the previous tests? The significance of this test involved Isaac, and it was on Isaac that all the weight of God’s covenant promise to Abraham was laid. Perhaps it is an issue of semantics, but I might question whether the test was more about Abraham’s loyalty (to God or to Isaac) opposed to Abraham’s faith in God. The third thing I wonder is how this test of Abraham relates to my own obedient sacrifice.

Abraham stands out as one of the major heroes of our faith and the Bible teaches us to model the actions and methods of those teachers who have gone before us (Hebrews 13:7). I ask myself; “What can I learn from Abraham in this particular circumstance?”

1. Abraham didn’t stall the process of God’s call and his obedient response. The text doesn’t say, but I can’t help but imagine there was some prayerful wrestling in his decision. What that wrestling may or may not have been can’t be known, but we do know that Abraham resolved to trust God and obey Him with sacrifice in very short order. “The next morning Abraham got up early…and set out for the place God had told him about” (Gen. 22:3).
2. Once his decision was made, he was unwavering and resolute in his mission to see it through to completion.
3. Abraham didn’t look for alternate paths, plan “B” or “God’s next best plan.” Abraham stayed focused on the mission as God had originally given it to him. Abraham was so single-minded and set in obedience to his sacrifice that it took the intervention of the angel of the LORD to stay his hand from taking the life of his son, Isaac.
4. There were multiple opportunities for God to reveal his provision of the ram to Abraham along the way, but it was not until the last second of no return (Abraham’s mind was made up and there was no turning back for him) that God stayed the hand of Abraham and revealed the ram in the bush.

As I reflect on my life I know there have been times that I embarked on a faith mission with God more focused on the alternate routes around the mountain instead of the narrow path up to Moriah. I know many of the tests of my faith have been incrementally leading to bigger tests. I think, if they do not lead me to “passing” the big test, passing the smaller tests was really to no avail. As it pertains to me, and in my present test, I don’t know how long or intricate the test has been orchestrated. In the case of Abraham, he had a knife in his belt for four days with the singular notion in his mind that it would be used to take the life of his son…and still he had little knowledge there would be a ram in the bush. He testified that “God will provide a sheep…” (Gen. 22:8), but he did not know as God had never spoken this provision.

My point with these observations is that Abraham went, he went up the mountain; he was deliberate and intentional with his course and decision to obey God at all cost. I am determined to do so as well. I do not want to settle for God’s plan “B” …I don’t know that one exists. If nothing else, it would probably be my Plan B, and have very little to do with God other than the fact that I had tried to spiritualize and justify my own disobedience. I suppose there is no one else that does that though.

At the end of the day there is this; I think too many folks professing belief in God refuse to answer God’s test to go up to Moriah. He may not be calling us to sacrifice children to test our faith, but we can rest assured that our faith is tested in ways that will be just as serious as the test that Abraham passed. The question that remains is will we be proven faithful. Will we be so obedient in our sacrifice that we too find our ram in the bush?