Because I do not believe God, because I do not search the thicket expectantly for the ram caught by its horns (Gen 22:13), because my faith is small, I do not sacrifice as I should. There is within me, within us, a nagging suspicion which makes us hesitate, makes us wary of risking it all.

And perhaps that is why God did not ask of Abraham an animal or some grain as sacrifice. Perhaps that is why God did not stop Abraham on the way to the mountain and why He did not keep him from laying Isaac on the alter. Perhaps that is why it was the moment before the knife descended, or as it descended, that God’s word of remembrance came through. “Abraham!”

For this committed saint and devoted father, it must have been as much a shock to be interrupted in his devotion as it was to be told to sacrifice the son he so loved. But, Abraham believed God!

On that day two faiths were tested, two lives were at stake, and two generations of devotion birthed. The death of the son would have killed the father. The father trusted God while the son trusted his father.

Isaac spoke up and More >