Unclear…
I don’t like the unclear. I like it plain as day. I don’t like surprises, I like knowing what is ahead, what to expect…and I like understanding the who, what, when, where, and why of it.
I’ve studied the eleventh chapter of Hebrews recently, and again looked at the portraits hanging in the ‘hall of faith’ we are shown there.
“By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.”(Hebrews 11:17-19)
There is a song I like to sing that calls on this event. The lyrics are ‘There he stood upon that hill, Abraham with knife in hand, was poised to kill….but God, in all Your sovereignty, had bigger plans, and just in time, You brought a lamb. Cause You were there, You were there, in the midst of the unclear. You were there, you were there….always. You were there when obedience seemed to not make sense. You were there. You were always there.”
I find it incredible that Abraham intended to obey at such great length. Killing a son who was promised, the son who would supposedly be the beginning of a great lineage..multitudes of heirs to be born in the future. It just didn’t make sense.
Abraham figured God would just over-rule a dead Isaac, and make him alive again. God could certainly do that…HAS done that.
The lyrics of that song haunt me and accuse me. In the midst of the unclear, am I obedient? When obedience doesn’t make sense, do I obey anyway?
Will my picture ever hang in a hall of faith?
I hope I don’t have to be tested to find out……
