God Will Provide (Genesis 22:1-14)

We all have things we love. For some, it might be an activity such as playing sport, doing a craft, or gardening. Others might love something they own, for example a car, photographs of loved ones, or their phone. We all have people in our lives that we love, such as family members, friends, or others who are special to us.

What would we do if God asked us to give up what we love? How would we react if God wanted us to sacrifice what we love to him?

This week’s Old Testament reading from Genesis 22:1-14 is a pretty disturbing story. It can be very difficult, maybe even inconceivable, for us to imagine that a God of compassion and love would ask Abraham to offer his son as a burnt sacrifice. However, when we start to explore the story, we can find that it teaches us a lot about faith and trusting God who promises to provide us with everything we need for this life and the next through Jesus.

If we can imagine what it might be like to give up something or someone we love, we might begin to imagine what Abraham went through when God asked him to give up his son, Isaac. He and his wife, Sarah, had waited for twenty-five years for this child. He was the one who would carry on Abraham’s family line, and through whom God had promised that he would bless the world (Genesis 12:1-3). When Isaac was still a boy, God told Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice to him. Can you imagine what that must have been like for Abraham? What would have he been thinking as he prepared himself and his son for their journey, as they walked together to Mount Moriah, as Abraham placed him on the altar, and as he reached for the knife? Any parent would struggle with this, wondering if they were doing the right thing, if this was really what God wanted, or if God could really be trusted.

When we start to explore what Abraham might have been going through in this story, we can find an insight into the heart of God our heavenly Father. Sometimes we can think that God is watching people from a distance, disconnected from our struggles, our sorrows, and our pain. This story gives us a different way to think about God. It points forward to God providing the ultimate sacrifice for all humanity in the crucifixion of Jesus. Almighty God didn’t just watch his Son’s death from a cold, unfeeling perspective. He felt the pain of his Son’s crucifixion just as much as Abraham, and as much as any parent who loses a child. Some people have argued that God can’t feel pain because he is God. This story of Abraham and Isaac, however, helps us understand that God suffers with us when we lose someone we love because he experienced the loss of his own Son. When we experience grief, loss, and the death of a loved one, our heavenly Father is right there with us because he knows what it is like for his child to die.

What made God’s command even more difficult for Abraham was God’s promise to him that he would be the father of a great nation (Genesis 12:2), that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky (Genesis 15:5), and all the peoples of the world would be blessed through him. The only way God could keep his promise was through Abraham’s child. Sacrificing Isaac meant putting God’s promise on the line and Abraham trusting that even if he offered up his son, then God would somehow still keep his promise to him.

This tells us a lot about the nature of faith. God asks us to trust him even when it seems impossible to us. He asks us to trust that he loves us, even when it seems like we are unlovable. He asks us to trust that he forgives us, even when what we’ve done might seem unforgivable. He asks us to trust him by offering him those things we love most so we can know that he can be trusted, that he always does what he promises to do, and he will always provide us with everything we need for this life and the next.

Thankfully, God won’t ask us to sacrifice our children in the way he asked Abraham. However, this story challenges us to think about the things and people we love, and if we love them more than our heavenly Father. When God first instructed Abraham to offer Isaac to him, he made a point of saying that Isaac was his only son whom he loved (verse 2). God asked Abraham to give what he loved up to him to show that he loved God most of all. He was asking Abraham to love the giver of the gift more than the gift itself. This can be a constant struggle for us. What do we love more – the gifts or the giver of those gifts?

In the middle of this struggle, God comes to us to provide us with what we need. For Abraham, God’s providing grace gave him a ram to sacrifice in the place of his son. This ram signifies Jesus whom God gave to us as the ultimate sacrifice for us. While we might struggle with what we believe God wants of us, or whether we love God more than the gifts he gives to us, God gifts us with the life of his Son for us on the cross and to us through the gospel. As we heard from Romans 5:8 a couple of weeks ago, while we were still sinners, grappling with what or whom we love most, or unsure if we can follow what God wants for us in our lives, God still shows his love for us by providing his Son to die for us.

In this act of selfless love, as God’s Son substitutes himself for us through his death on the cross, we find a God we can trust and love more than anything else. In Jesus, God provides us with everything he requires of us. God gives us his best, and, even though he suffers as the result, he gifts us with his most precious Son whom he loves because he reckons we’re worth it. While we might think that what God asked of Abraham was horrific or unfair, this points us to our God who provides everything we need for life in this world and the next no matter what the cost. God shows himself to Abraham and to us as the One in whom we can trust and the One we can love most, because he held nothing back, gave his most precious and loved Son for us, and kept his impossible promise to Abraham, just like he does to us.

It can be difficult to reconcile this story with the picture we might have of a loving God. However, when we find in this story the heart of a grieving parent, and the love of God who provides for us through the death of his Son, it becomes good news for us. When we struggle with loss in our lives, or when we are wondering whether God can or will keep his promises, this story assures and encourages us to believe that in even the most tragic or difficult circumstances of our lives, God will always provide for us through his Son, Jesus.

More to think about or discuss:

• What is something or someone you love? Would you give it back to God if he asked you? Why or why not?
• Have you ever thought of God as a grieving parent? How can thinking about God in this way be good news for us? For others?
• How has God provided for you in some way in your life? How has that encouraged you in your faith?