Genesis 22:1-2 NIV
Some time later God tested Abraham.
He said to him, "Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied.
Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love,
and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one
of the mountains I will tell you about."
Are You
Up For The Journey?
We
did this in our youth group and it generated thoughtful discussions. One of the students was blindfolded and
assigned a guide for the activity. The
guide’s task was to get the blindfolded student from one end of a large room to
the other end by weaving about through a series of obstacles and barriers. The challenge was three fold. The guide could not touch the blindfolded
student in any way nor use any device to take him or her around the room. Secondly, the guide was only allowed to use
voice commands or directions to direct the student to the goal. Third, everyone else in the room also yelled
instructions and tried to confuse the blindfolded student during the
exercise. It took great concentration
and trust in the true guide for the blindfolded student to make it all the way
to the other side. Of course the
blindfolded student had to make a crucial decision before starting. Once that guide’s voice was recognized, would
the student decide to obey it?
There
are a number of reasons why we don’t follow the directions of others. You might not believe that other person has
your best interest at heart. You might
think you know more than the person instructing you. It could be you have been hurt in the past by
those you have trusted. You are not a
robot. You do not blindly obey just anyone
because you weigh all the options and then decide on your own. That is how normal people are. They are careful about whom they follow and
perhaps that is the way you should be.
Yet, should you have that same approach when it comes to God?
What
should you make of ancient Abraham’s response to God’s demand that Abraham
sacrifice his son Isaac on Mt. Moriah?
Was it rational? Some
time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. Then God said, "Take your son, your only
son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there
as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." Early the next morning Abraham got up and
saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac.
When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place
God had told him about. (Genesis
22:1-3 NIV) Perhaps you have read this
account a hundred times or maybe this is a first for you but if you were in
this same situation, would you have acted as Abraham did? You may already know how this turned. At the last moment, just as Abraham was about
to kill his son Isaac on the altar, God stopped him. When they reached the place God had told him
about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his
son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the
knife to slay his son. But the angel of
the Lord called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he
said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because
you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." (Genesis
22:9-12 NIV)
Regardless
of what you may think of the Lord’s demand, it is obvious that God never
intended for Abraham to follow through with the sacrifice. Clearly Abraham did not know this in advance
and yet still believed that God should be followed. The Bible text says that God “tested
Abraham”. “Tested” is the translation of
a Hebrew term that can better be rendered here “proved”. God was not checking to see if Abraham would
faithfully obey Him but rather uncovering what He already knew was in Abraham,
faith. Sometimes we don’t know who we
are and what our capability is until we are tested. It is testing for us but for God it is
“proving”. This was not the first time
Abraham “passed the test”. When God told
him as an old man who was childless that he would eventually be the father of
nations, Abraham took the Lord at His word and believed Him. The Bible says this of Abraham, who was
earlier known as Abram, Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it
to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6 NIV) This
faith Abraham had in God is referenced several times in the New Testament
because it was the benchmark for us all.
Can
you imagine a more excruciatingly painful step than that first one leading away
from his camp? The decision was
made. “I will obey God.” Once he decided that he would do what God
commanded, Abraham became faith, faith incarnate. Sometimes the Lord has you do something and
it seems unreasonable. Perhaps your
obedience does not even go well for you.
You lose a friend. You don’t turn
a profit. You miss out on a
promotion. I read a while back that the
famous Christian athlete Tim Tebow lost the affection of Miss Universe because
he refused to have premarital sex with her.
Faith cannot be separated from
obedience…they are as linked as flesh and blood. There is no faith without obedience and at
some point God will have you leave the camp and go up the mountain. The first step is when you decide if you will
trust God with your life. Is He good
even now?
It
is interesting how little attention we pay the poor young widow Ruth. An entire book of the Bible is named for her
but we almost completely ignore her obedience.
Although she was a Moabite, Ruth married a Jewish expatriate who had
moved with his family to Moab. Soon
after their marriage, Ruth’s husband Mahlon died. Her father-in-law had also died and her
mother-in-law Naomi, a widow too, decided to return to her home town of
Bethlehem. Shockingly, Ruth wanted to
leave with her. Why? Naomi did not understand it either. "Look," said Naomi, "your
sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her."
(Ruth 1:15 NIV) Naomi had nothing to offer Ruth and it did
not make sense to Naomi for Ruth to leave her family and friends and move with
her to Israel. Yet that was what Ruth
was determined to do! Ruth responded to
her mother-in-law’s protestation with a firm resolve to follow through witth
what she knew she had to do. But
Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where
you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people
and your God my God. Where you die I
will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so
severely, if anything but death separates you and me." (Ruth
1:16-18 NIV)
We
cannot say with any certainty, based on the account, that Ruth was commanded by
God to go with Naomi to Bethlehem. But
there is a subtle hint that something had transpired between Ruth and God. Naomi told Ruth that she should go back to
her gods. Naomi it seems did not have
any of the “evangelist” in her. There
was no urgency in her heart to bring people to God. Ruth ignored the lack of fervency in Naomi
though and pressed forward. She insisted
that Naomi’s God would be her God. How
profound! She was making a complete
break from all the demons of her previous religion and joining her life to
God’s. Notice something else. In the Hebrew text, Ruth uses the personal
name of the Lord to express her loyalty to Him and God’s right to treat her
badly if she breaks away from Naomi. She
calls Him YHWH. It is like your husband
calling your father “daddy” or your co-worker because of her affection calling
your mother “nana”. Ruth was a part of
not just Naomi’s family but the Lord’s family too!
Did
it take courage for Ruth to take that first step toward Bethlehem? Of course!
Is it possible that she questioned herself when she started
walking? Perhaps! Is it clear to us that Ruth was certain the
Lord wanted her to leave Moab and go with Naomi to Bethlehem? It seems pretty clear. She was going so that she could make her life
with Him. What if she had not obeyed
that quiet and subtle voice of God leading her out of Moab and into
Israel? There would have been that
natural ripple effect that is in every situation. She would not have been an encouragement to
Naomi who clearly was battling depression.
Boaz would have missed out on marrying her. Friends she made in Bethlehem would not have
had her as an example of faith to emulate.
And of course she would not have been the mother of Obed who was the
grandfather of David, the great king of Israel.
There was also a supernatural ripple effect.
When
we obey God in any matter, whether it seems big or small, the Kingdom of God is
impacted in some way or another. In
Ruth’s case it is crystal clear what following God did for the entire universe. The line through which the Savior of the World
came was the one established by Ruth and Boaz and their son Obed. The battle over the souls of all humanity was
being fought in the heart of Ruth as she pondered whether or not to take that
first step out of Moab. No matter of
obedience is trivial. Obedience to God
sends shockwaves through the demonic realm and wrecks the plans of Satan. Disobedience discourages God’s servants and
brings elation to Satan’s allies. There
is always someone watching to see what you will do. It could be a son or daughter, a coworker, a
friend or even an enemy. Always there is
an audience in the spiritual realm.
Remember what we see in the book of Hebrews. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a
great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin
that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out
for us. (Hebrews 12:1 NIV) How you respond to what God says will make
an impact on others without you wanting or caring to do so. It is impossible to avoid the encouragement
or discouragement you cause by your actions.
There
are eight universal axioms of obedience.
1. God loves you and Christ died
to save you. 2. God knows all the outcomes of every act
considered. 3. There is a real right and a real wrong when
you make decisions. 4. Satan confuses the issues and corrupts your
thinking when your mind is not on Christ.
5. God is always close enough to
lead you onto the right path. 6. Actions flow out of a spiritual source of
guidance. 7. Every decision you make leads to an outcome
that either pleases God or pleases Satan.
8. Nothing you do happens in a
vacuum. Someone is always impacted by
your actions.
When
Paul made the decision to go to Jerusalem despite the knowledge he had that he
would be arrested after he arrived, Paul continued there because he knew Christ
wanted him to go. His friends and fellow
Christians urged him not to do so because they were afraid of what would
happen. You are like a rope in a tug of
war battle. Some will pull you one way,
some the other but there is one voice that must take over all you do and that
is the call of the Lord. Does it matter
what you do? It matters to someone! You cannot
know all the ways your actions impact others.
As David considered how he would spend his evening, he could either go
up on the roof and look around or stay downstairs and play with his kids. What would he do? Such a small matter to consider it would seem! Did he hear the voice of God as he pondered
his options? Was Satan twisting his
thoughts as he mulled over what to do next?
Eventually, he climbed the steps and looked out over the housetops
without a care. But then he came upon
Bathsheba…and it made all the difference in the world what he decided
previously. Are you ready to be used by
God for the benefit of humanity and the glory of God or do you want to be bent
by Satan into his tool for harm? You have
in your heart all you need to be good and right and the hand of Christ in a
world in need of God. Make your decisions
wisely. Never assume it doesn’t matter
what you do or where you go.
