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I’ve got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy down in my heart!
As a child my dad would tell me to do something, let’s say clean my room. “Sure” was my response as I failed to move from the couch. Man that would get his blood boiling! “When I (your father) tell you (my child) to do something, it should be done NOW. Not later, not tomorrow.” Sulking and loudly displeased, I would make my way to the torturous task. The parental figure would then say “When I ask you to do something, it should be done immediately and with a joyful heart.” What?? After 31 years and some deep meditation on this passage, I finally get that. My dad was right!! God called out to Abraham and man he responded with a quickness! “Here I am!” God asked Abraham to make the ultimate sacrifice, his only son, and Abraham didn’t roll his eyes and say “But GO-od…he’s my ON-ly son!!” in that sing-song whine that teenagers know so well. No, he gathered up what he would need to carry out this task and proceeded to Moriah. In the 3 day trip there, he never faltered, there’s no mention of questioning God. And guess what he did when he got to the site? He took his son and worshiped the very God asking for his child as an offering. What a Joyful Heart! Do you get that Abraham loves, honors, and fears God so much, that he obeys immediately, unquestioningly, and with this wonderfully joyous heart? Isn’t it such a wonderful feeling when someone does something we ask of them because they want to please us and in doing so, please themselves? Isn’t it horrible when they do it against their will and begrudgingly? Abraham had such a wonderful faith and trust, that he would do anything God commanded of him with this joyous heart. Shouldn’t we also respond to God’s will with this same attitude? Let’s have some faith that God will provide the offering, and not worry about what it is he is asking us to offer..lay it at his feet. And proceed with an open and joyful heart!
i’ll obey quickly and easily if I can first get all the details! What would it take for me to obey quickly when I don’t have the details? In trying to figure out the details, I tend to analyze, scrutinize, socialize… until my eyes have lost God in the fog of it all. Oswald Chambers says darkness can begin to set in when we don’t obey with some level of immediacy.
You know, what I love about the Abraham/Issac story is watching Abraham rest in God’s promise to him. He knew, because of their covenant with each other, that God was going to make him the father of many nations. So, when he was asked to sacrifice his son, he had the foundation of God’s promise to rest in. Terrible and hard….yes. But looking ahead to God’s promise, he was able to obey. God promises us so many things: to prosper and not harm us, to never leave or forsake us, eternal life with him in heaven if we accept the free gift of God’s grace through Jesus…how easily would we obey him, how much more immediate would this happen, if we believed in his promises?
I can’t help but think what his son was thinking the whole time this was happening. It makes me wonder if today, we look at all these ‘crazy’ people who try to hurt their kids bc they think thats what God wants them to do.. What if it were true? I know i want to be willing to do whatever God wants me to do…I just PRAY i have the strength, courage and obediancy to do these things when the time comes.