He cared...
Sometimes I feel so lazy. This blog was meant to be written nearly two weeks back, and I just could not bring myself to write it down. The day I really wanted to, I found that I hadn't prepared adequately, and I still have a feeling I haven't. But, somehow, whatever I learnt was just too beautiful - something I hadn't seen before, and haven't heard anyone bringing this particular idea out either, and so, here's the little treat.I have covered Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac already, over a year ago in the article "Scapegoat" but there is something about the Bible - the fact that every time you read it, God can show you something you've never seen before... and sometimes, what NO ONE else has seen before. That is when you realize that God's Word is living, and it is multi-faceted, and if only we understood just how much thought God put into His Word for you and me, how much of a wonderful positive force it could be in each of our lives.
I remember reading somewhere that Isaac was probably 24 when this incident happened (or was it David? I'm not too sure...) but whatever it is, it serves to show some very interesting facts. Of course, the Bible emits a lot of history, but it is more than possible that Abraham didn't spend as much time with God as he used to once Isaac was born. And the Lord who created Adam and Eve to enjoy their company missed Abraham's!
Think about it. God saw a companion in Abraham the way most of us do. He found someone, who, though small and insignificant, meant the world to Him. [I'm sure a lot of you are thinking about pet frogs and toads, and if you're anything like I am, the Frog Prince :D] He found enough to enter into a covenant, a treaty with Abraham, humbling Himself to take the place of the inferior party [The ancient Semitic tribes had a custom where the losing king was made to walk through the bleeding corpses of animals, symbolically meaning “May the Gods do to me like these animals if I violate this treaty” – read Gen 15:1-19]. He found enough in him to confide his plans to destroy a group of people Abraham had no idea about.
And then it happened. The promise child was born, and, I sure can’t fault Abraham for spending more time with a little kid – after all, there are diapers to be cleaned, bedtime stories to be read, human horse-rides to be given… but God missed Abraham’s company. Haven’t you felt the sting of your loved one not spending as much time with you as he/she used to? Can you imagine God feeling the sting of human neglect too?
He did. Or, He probably did. But a God who clearly despises human sacrifice asked one Abraham to sacrifice his only son “whom he loved”. And Abraham – only God knew what went on in his mind - said yes! And this, is what I wanted you to focus on. The actual incident happened around 2000 years later, when God’s only Son died on the cross to erase the debt of what we would never have been able to bear, but what a forerunner!
I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t think about anything else for some time. It still echoes in my head. Before God actually sent His only begotten Son to be a sacrifice for us, to be the ultimate proof of His love toward us, there was a man -an ordinary man - who was ready to sacrifice his son; ultimate proof of his own love toward the God who loved him as no other.
At this juncture, please note that I am not undermining the sacrifices of parents who have lost their only children – if anything, throughout history, a lot of people have gone through things harder than anything my brain can imagine, but I would rather shift your focus toward someone who tried his best to love God as much as He loved him. You must remember; God didn’t want the sacrifice – God wanted the heart, and as painful a test as this was, this doesn’t compare to an extract from Max Lucado’s daily devotional that I feel compelled to paste here.
--- School's first day - Max Lucado.
Jenna, wake up. It's time to go to school."
She will hear those words a thousand times in her life. But she heard themfor the first time this morning.
I sat on the edge of her bed for a while before I said them to her. To tell the truth, I didn't want to say them. I didn't want to wake her. As I sat in the silence, I realized that my words would awaken her to a new world. For four lightning-fast years she'd been ours, and ours alone. And now that was all going to change.
I didn't want to wake her up because I didn't want to give her up. But I woke her anyway. I interrupted her childhood with the inevitable proclamation, "Jenna, wake up.… It's time to go to school. "I knew it was time. I knew it was right. And I knew she would be fine. I gave her up as much as I could today. Today's events took it from black-and-white theology to Technicolor reality.
"What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:31, 32)
I was releasing Jenna into a safe environment with a compassionate teacherwho stood ready to wipe away any tears. You, Father, released Jesus into a hostile arena with a cruel soldier who turned the back of your son into raw meat. I gave up my child fully aware that were she to need me I would be at herside in a heartbeat. You said good-bye to your son fully aware that when he would need you the most, when his cry of despair would roar through the heavens, you would sit in silence. The angels, though positioned, wouldhear no command from you. Your son, though in anguish, would feel nocomfort from your hands.
Before the day was over, I sat in silence a second time. This time not beside my daughter, but before my Father. This time not sad over what I had to give, but grateful for what I'd already received—living proof that God does care.
>>>
…I can’t close. My mind is numb. I can’t think of anything that would fit in here. I started and planned to write about the kind of love God expected from a human, and the sacrifice the man was ready to make, and God brought to my attention His sacrifice. Two sacrifices. So very similar. Man got a lifeline. God… didn’t.
posted by Finney @ 11:37 AM
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