The Sacrifice of a Son

I just got through reading Genesis 20-23 and it chokes me up every time. I try to understand why God would ask Abraham to sacrifice Isaac and just can’t understand it. I know God had to know that Abraham was more devoted to Him than He was his own son, but I can’t imagine the heartbreak in Abraham’s heart. The faith that it took to lay Isaac on that alter confounds me. I wonder what was going through the mind of Abraham as he put the wood on Isaac’s back, the same wood that would be used to offer Isaac up as a burnt offering, just gets me every time. To carry a knife to slay your own son just doesn’t compute with me. I can’t imagine God asking that of me! Yet we are to love God above all others otherwise we are not worthy of Him. This one is hard for me. To think of the child that I have birthed, and taking that child to offer her as a sacrifice rends my heart. Now when Ciara was born I dedicated her to God (not in baptism) and promised to bring her up in the ways of God, but this is nowhere close to being the same. I know it is a picture of God offering up His own Son as a sacrifice for us. Christ, too, carried the wood on His back to the place where He would be sacrificed for us all. I know God loved Christ greater than Abraham loved Isaac, and to think while we were yet enemies of God He offered Christ up for us. It just shows that God’s love for us is so much greater than our love for Him. To say it’s humbling is an understatement. I am not worthy. None of us are yet we receive His grace freely. His mercy is freely poured on us though we don’t deserve it. It was the sacrifice of a Son that has brought us peace within. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son and believed that even if he killed him that God could bring Isaac back to life. Oh the faith!! Oh the love!! And it can be ours too, if we just believe.

Melissa Fitzwilliam