Giving Up for Love
Genesis 22:1-18— 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 … 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 … through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed…”
This account is one of the most dramatic in all of Scripture. From the first time we hear this account, we remember it the rest of our lives. Every time we hear it, we are simply amazed—a father is told to give up his son, his only son!
The silence from Abraham is startling! There is no complaint, “LORD, how could you tell me to kill my son? Aren’t I supposed to do everything in my power to protect him?” There is no arguing, “LORD, what’s wrong with you? How could you have me do this when Isaac is the child of The Promise?” Not a word, even though the sacrifice the LORD told him to make would have left nothing of Isaac but dust and ashes! Abraham’s obedience and love for God is so great, he wakes up early the next morning to get ready and leave.
Why would God do this to Abraham? God was testing Abraham. Every test the LORD brings, he brings to strengthen faith, but perhaps the LORD had a second purpose. Look at the way in which the LORD describes Isaac, “your son, your only son, whom you love.” Maybe God needed to bring this test because Abraham was beginning to love his son too much. “Too much?!” you ask. We can love anything or anyone too much if it replaces God in our hearts for the number one spot. Perhaps Abraham was in danger of letting his love for Isaac crowd out his love for God. Abraham was called to Give Up For Love, love for God.
But what about you? Each one of you can find things in your hearts and lives that you hold for yourself, telling God to keep his hands off. You want to see how much you struggle in Giving Up For Love? Then just take a few moments right now, close your eyes and make a mental list of all things things you wouldn’t want to live without. Now, find the things in that list that, if gone or taken away, would make you want to quit life, would make you want to just be done with it all. With the exception of God’s Word, every one of those things left on your list is in danger of becoming your idol, if it hasn’t already.
Abraham could struggle as he did and was obedient to the LORD only because he knew and believed The Promise. After passing the test, the LORD again assures Abraham of his promise: “through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed…” That offspring is Christ our Savior. In fact, he was the very one speaking to Abraham! And friends, look at what Christ gave up out of love for you! His struggle against temptation in the wilderness was so great, angels came and attended him! And yet, he was victorious in his struggle. And then one day, Jesus would willingly obey his Father’s will and carry the wood of his altar on his own back to that same mountain where Abraham nearly sacrificed Isaac. There the Father did not spare his own Son one bit of suffering. There Jesus endured the ultimate struggle against sin. It killed him, but he rose again, just as he promised! How beautifully and most excellently Abraham’s words were fulfilled in Christ’s death and resurrection. “The LORD will provide.”
Part of being a child of God is to be willing to Give Up For Love of God. It’s not your place to ask why, but to trust God to give what is good. Because that is exactly what he does give. The Apostle Paul makes that point crystal clear. As you repentantly turn to God and trust in him above all things, you have absolute assurances from him. Paul writes: 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? (Rom. 8:31-32) And again, there is nothing in all creation that is able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:39).
Friends, this is why, like Abraham, you can quietly and confidently follow your Father’s plan. And when you fail to give things up for love of God, and you will, even daily, then repent and receive from your Father the forgiveness and the strength he won by truly giving up everything for love of you!