The sun was scorchingly hot. He could feel the sweat bead on the nape of his neck and run slowly down his back between the crags of his slumped shoulder blades. It ran into his eyes and stung, mingling with the tears hiding in the midst of the perspiration.
He watched ahead as they hiked up the steep slope while his only son, born a few short years ago in his dotage, bounded up the hillside as only youth can. The boy played with the sticks he carried, beating at the sparse shrubbery as if warding off dangerous beasts and wily robbers. He grumbled low under his breath and played at parrying imaginary foes with the dagger he held. Any other day, the man would have smiled lovingly t the gameplay. Today was different. The boy had no idea.
As the two of them reached the pinnacle, he began harnessing the boy's energies to gather rocks to build a small altar. It seemed barbaric to the man that he would be asking his son to help him now, but there it was. The sweat flowed freely now, the morning giving way to the hot desert afternoon, as they stacked and balanced each piece until the altar was set.
"But, Father," the boy asked quietly, "Where is the sacrifice?"
Can you imagine the father's desperation and despair as he explained that God would provide a sacrifice all the while knowing the boy himself was to be killed on the altar? His heart had to have been breaking with the weight of the small boy's immediate shock as he was bound when the altar had been dressed for the burnt offering. No where in the scripture does it say that the boy resisted his father's will, so am I to assume that he simply crawled up there willingly, in absolute trust? The father didn't stall or argue with God, he simply kept at the task with an almost robotic methodology - this is how I am to sacrifice for my Lord.
The dagger is held up, glinting in the cruel desert sun, ready to plunge into the chest of this man's only, hard won son... And at that precise moment, when it was certain that the man was in full obedience, only then does God intervene.
"Stop! Do not lay a hand on the boy!"
What relief... What sweet relief that father must have felt at that moment! His obedience would be rewarded with so much, but the sweetest had to be gathering up his bewildered son in his arms and telling him how very much he loved him.
Decisions aren't always easy. Sometimes the decisions we are faced with, even when they are the right ones, directed by God, are very, very difficult. Some decisions even seem to contradict what we know to be true and right and definitely contrary to what we deem easy. Some decisions are made because they are the right thing to do, not the easy thing to do.
For whatever reason, we humans seem to think that once we become Christians we will not have hardship. We buy into the ill conceived idea that our decisions, if truly from God, will be made with ease and lightness of heart. We think that God wouldn't make us sad in our decisions for Him. How do we ever come to that conclusion?
Growth is painful. God is in the business of growing us. Ergo, some of the decisions God will ask us to make will be painful, heart rending, antithetical to all we thought would be asked of us. Sometimes God asks us to give up the one thing we feel is holding us together, when what God sees is that very thing holding us back. He cannot do the work in us He desires until we can truly be wholly His, without hesitation or questions. God wants all of us.
Making the decision to be obedient to the Lord will always be rewarded. It may not be an immediate relief or a certain welcoming response, but God rewards faithful and obedient hearts every time. Have faith that in your desire to be obedient to your Lord you will be rewarded with His ultimate praise when you make your decisions based on His truth and His will, not on your emotions. It is a very difficult thing to do, no doubt. Christ never said it would be easy, simply that we would never be alone in it. He will always be with us.
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV)
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