God Provides First: Genesis 22:1-14 - Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Ask anyone which book of the Bible is the scariest, and they’d probably say Revelation, the last book of the Bible. But I’d like to suggest a contender: Genesis, the first book of the Bible.

You have Noah’s Ark and the complete flooding of the earth; you have the fiery destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, with Lot’s wife turning to a pillar of salt when she looks back on the cities. Don’t forget the years-long global famine which draws Jacob and his family to Egypt, where his son Joseph had arisen to become Pharoah’s right-hand-man. 

In between, there are numerous instances of abominable human behavior. Through it all, we don’t get a warm-and-fuzzy picture of God.

Nowhere is that truer than today’s story in which God commands Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, his only son, as a burnt offering. 

Photo by Niko Manuelides on Unsplash

Abraham waited a full 25 years for God to fulfill his promise to give him and Sarah a Son and in extreme old age. Even though he loved Isaac as much as a father could, Abraham obeyed God. 

Abraham didn’t tell Isaac what God had told him they saddled up their donkeys and set out. Eventually, Isaac asked Abraham, “where’s the lamb for the burnt offering?” 

“God will provide himself the lamb,” Abraham said. Once the altar was prepared and the firewood was laid, Abraham overpowered his son, tying him up and dragging him atop the altar.

The thought of this grizzly scene pains my imagination, especially considering how many cases of child abuse have been in the news lately. 

Abraham is just about to sacrifice his son when God intervenes and declares that Abraham has demonstrated his obedience. Good for Abraham. But why did God go to such extremes to test Abraham’s faith? why did this have to involve traumatizing Isaac? Should a God-fearing Christian expect to have to prove their faith to God in this way?

There are a few important factors we need to consider here…

The only people in all the world who worshiped God were Abraham, Sarah, and their family. That’s it. Human sacrifice was commonplace among people who worshiped other gods. God certainly set the record straight for Abraham and Isaac that he was not to be worshiped in this way. 

You will never have to prove your worth to God to earn salvation, forgiveness, or daily bread. God’s faithfulness is not contingent on human faithfulness.

Still, Abraham trusted that God would provide, and God did. As disturbing as this was, I believe Isaac learned to trust God in the same way. If God hadn’t permitted Abraham to take things as far as he did, and they found the ram earlier, I don’t think God’s intervention would have had the same impact. It would’ve appeared more as good luck than divine providence. 

In this age of plenty, we seldom acknowledge God as the giver of all the good things we enjoy every day. The abundance of clean water, food, and clothing we enjoy today weren’t available even to royalty for most of human history. These are modern miracles, but we don’t really see God’s hand in them. But it’s a whole different story when you’re facing a crisis or an unmet need. That’s when your faith gets put to the test. 

Everyone who walks with God goes through testing. Trusting God is something you learn, and you can’t learn anything without testing. Some tests come straight from God, particularly when God calls you. Every one of the bible’s heroes of the faith lacked something when God called them, be it experience, knowledge, maturity, strength, stature, or resources. God provided everything they needed, but not before they stepped out in faith.

Many tests, however, do not originate from God but are simply part of life. God doesn’t give people cancer or create natural disasters to test your faith. God doesn’t make people do evil things to test your faith. But when all the things that brought you comfort and security crumble away, God provides. When things aren’t going your way, when you are not in control, you don’t have other people’s approval, God provides. When you can’t, God will. When there is no way, God makes a way.

But God cannot prove faithful unless you trust him. Obedience is trust in action. Obedience begins with the fundamentals of faith: putting God first. Loving your neighbors. Forgiving sins. Living by the commandments.

As I’ve said before, obedience is rarely the path of least resistance. Often, it’s the past of most resistance. When you’re obeying God, you are no longer in control. Obedience will almost always take you out of your comfort zone, where you risk loss, rejection, hardship, and failure along the way. But God provides everything you need to be obedient, because obedience is impossible without God’s help.

Abraham obeyed because God took the initiative. God called Abraham and Sarah. God promised them a son, and God kept that promise. When God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son, he trusted God to provide a lamb, and God did. 

If you are struggling to trust God right now in the face of unmet needs or overwhelming odds, think back to when God provided for you. If God took care of you before, why would God stop now?

If you are unsure of what God’s call for you is, consider what God has provided you in abundance. Is it time, it is it resources, it is a special talent or gift that could benefit the neighbor? Is it a story of hope that must be shared? If God has given you a light, don’t hide it under a bushel basket!

Christians don’t grow, churches don’t grow, because we never want to be in the position where we must trust God to provide. But sometimes we have no choice. But either way, for those blessed few who trust God, God provides. God amazes. God changes the world. 

God provides first. Will you take the next step and obey?

22 After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ² He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.” ³ So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. ⁴ On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. ⁵ Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.” ⁶ Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. And the two of them walked on together. ⁷ Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” ⁸ Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them walked on together.

⁹ When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. ¹¹ But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ¹² He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” ¹³ And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ So Abraham called that place “The Lord will provide,” as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” (NRSVue)