It didn’t make any sense and no matter how hard he likely tried, Abraham surely couldn’t make an ounce of sense out of it. It was just baffling. He couldn’t have misheard God—although He probably wished he had. God had told him plainly. Abraham was to take his only son, the son whom he loved, the son of promise, Isaac, and offer him as a burnt offering.
It made no sense.
A Painful Journey
Part of God’s instructions was to travel to Moriah and sacrifice Isaac there. This was both a blessing and a curse. Moriah was several days away—it gave time for Abraham to process God’s command and to brace himself for what he would have to do. And it also gave him time with his son. But at the same time, it was surely an excruciatingly painful journey. Every step he took was one step closer to the inevitable. Can you imagine what that journey was like for Abraham? Can you imagine what his heavy heart surely felt like? How hard he must have tried to hold back the tears from flowing? Perhaps even struggling to contain anger against God that may have been welling in his soul?Real People with Real Feelings
We cannot forget that the people we read of in the Bible were real people with real emotions. Abraham wasn’t a superhero, although the Jews in Jesus’ day sort of thought he was. No, Abraham was a normal man. He was a father. And God had called him to do the unthinkable. And to be honest, as a father, I struggle with how he could do it. I don’t believe I could have. Oh, I know. We read in Hebrews that Abraham believed that God could raise Isaac from the dead. And that is indeed amazing faith. But think about it: Abraham would have still had to plunge the knife into his son. How could that not haunt Abraham for the rest of his life? Even if God raised Isaac from the dead, that moment could never be undone. And I have to imagine Isaac would have never let Abraham forget. “Hey, dad. Remember that time you killed me? Yeah, now about that new robe I saw at the mall…”We Aren’t Promised Easy Lives
Genesis 22 describes what I consider to be one of the most difficult, baffling things God has ever called one of His people to do. Yet, Abraham is not alone. Yes, God called on Abraham to do something rather extreme, but the same God calls on us to do difficult, baffling things too. We are to forgive all who wrong us, no matter what. We are to love unconditionally. We are to be scandalously generous with our time and possessions. We are to die to ourselves. We are to live for eternity rather than today. Here’s what we have to understand: the Bible speaks far more of the suffering we will experience as followers of Christ than the comfort. We aren’t promised easy lives as Christians. But what we are promised—what we can know for sure—is that God will not call on us to experience anything more difficult than what He has experienced, that He will always be with us, and that there is purpose in all He calls on us to do, even if we cannot see it. This is a great take-away for us from this account in Genesis 22. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his one and only son, but did not have to. God, on the other hand, was not only willing to sacrifice His Son, but He did. That is the love that He has for us! And it is because of that love that we can trust Him, even when what He tells us to do doesn’t make sense at all.Real satisfaction comes not in understanding God’s motives, but in understanding His character, in trusting in His promises, and in leaning on Him and resting in Him as the Sovereign who knows what He is doing and does all things well.” — Joni Eareckson Tada [1]Preschool Tip: For our little concrete thinkers, we want to be especially careful with our terminology in this session, such as using the more general “give up” like in the Christ Connection. Help preschoolers see that Abraham was willing to “give up” his son for God, but in the end he did not have to. Be sure to clarify that this was a unique situation; we don’t want preschoolers worrying that God might call their parents to give them up too. But then also be sure to share that God was willing, and did, give up His Son for us. Kids Tip: This story has so many wonderful layers pointing us to Jesus! Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son, but God actually did sacrifice His Son on our behalf. Isaac carrying the wood for the sacrifice up the mountain to the place of sacrifice. Isaac was as good as dead, but then God brought him back to life figuratively on the third day (see Hebrews 11:19). Abraham’s declaration that God would provide the lamb, and of course the ram provided as a substitute. What a great opportunity we have to show our kids how rich God’s Word is—how many ways from so early on He was pointing us to Jesus. Have fun with this session and see if you can get your kids’ jaws to drop in awe of our good God. [1] Joni Eareckson Tada, Is God Really in Control? (Joni and Friends, 1987), 9, quoted in The Peacemaker, by Ken Sande, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004), 69.