He Wouldn't, Would He?

He Wouldn’t
 
No way God would, would he?  Way back in Bible times, early in Bible times, God came to Abraham, after Abraham had waited 25 years to receive the son of promise and after he had lived with him, loved him, and watched him grow into a man of God, and God asked Abraham to offer him up as an act of obedience and worship to God.  I know that is a run on sentence but be more amazed at what was being asked of Abraham than my poor sentence structure.  Abraham was old and yet Isaac brought him vim and vigor.  I bet they did everything together.  He was the apple of Abraham’s eye and the joy of his life.  Now, God asked the seemingly impossible.  Abraham obeyed.  The writer of Hebrews speculates that he obeyed because Abraham knew God could raise him from the dead.  OK, so maybe Isaac comes back to life.  What would this act do to their relationship?  I am pretty sure Isaac would seriously hesitate to go on any more camping trips with Abraham.
 
Think about all of this for a moment.  Think about the amazing view of God that Abraham had to have to walk up that mountain and seek to perform this act of faith.  Abraham’s God was worthy of all obedience.  Even what was most precious to Abraham.  If God wanted Isaac, then Abraham’s God was worthy of his precious son.  His view of God was so majestic that he gave his all.  When I found myself meditating on this, I found that I did not center my thoughts on Abraham’s love of God as much as I thought about Abraham’s view of God.  His God was worthy of everything.  Whatever God desired of Abraham...Abraham was going to give it.
 
So, when God asks of us to spend time with him each day, to give faithfully of our money, to use the gifts that he has given us to help others, to spend one day a week in worship and rest, and to give him our goals and dreams, do we have such a majestic view of God that our immediate response is, “Here am I, send me”?  Maybe we are not as faithful in these requests from God than we should be.  Isn’t our inconsistency and lack of sacrifice really an issue that we do not believe our God is worthy enough of our sacrifice?  Our desires, our schedules, our needs are more worthy than our God is.  We do not readily give our all as Abraham did.  We give our best shot.  We give unless something more worthy comes along.  We serve if we have the time.  We teach our children that sports is more important than worship.  We spend time with God when we can fit it in with our more worthy schedules.  We would never say it this harshly, and maybe I am being too strong, but if God has or is asking, and we are delaying, inconsistent, or refusing, then we are saying he is not worthy enough of our sacrifice of obedience.  What if God came and asked of us something as life changing as he did Abraham?  Do we have a big enough view of God that we would believe he was worthy of our sacrificial obedience?
 
It is hard for me to imagine being in Abraham’s sandals.  But I want Abraham’s heart.  I want such a majestic view of God that it drives me to give my all.  I want my daily obedience to be driven by a view of God that desires him more than anything else.  I desire to be driven to the word because I see Jesus.  I want to run to church because it is what he desires.  I want to use the gifts he has given me because I see the giver.  Our problem isn’t that we do not have enough time or energy.  Our problem is that we do not see God like Abraham did.

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