An Altared Life: Part 2

“Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”  Genesis 22:2

Now that is quite a request my friends. Abraham was an altar builder – scriptures like Genesis 12 and 13 tell us about times when he built them to call upon God’s great name.

But this altar was quite different. It would be built so Abraham could offer up the very thing that God promised him – his son, his only son, the son whom he loved. Doesn’t that trivecta of phrases pierce your heart? It is almost as if God is reminding Abraham that Isaac is the only son of promise  – and  the Great “I Am” is asking for him back.  

He went up the mountain with intentions of 100% obedience. Wood in hand and a knife strapped on, he and Isaac headed up Mt. Moriah. For what purpose? Genesis 22:5 says they were going to worship, the first time worship is used in scripture in fact. The Hebrew word for worship, shachah, means to bow down.

There is no greater act of worship than offering back to God the thing we hold closest to our hearts. <Tweet this

You see, because Abraham walked so closely with God, he knew God’s nature. There must be a bigger YES if God is asking for this sacrifice. Clearly Abraham believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead or somehow still fulfill the promise. In verse 5, Abraham tells the men who were with them they would “worship and return to you”.

The longer we walk with our Great God, the more we will trust Him. Things that sound totally crazy to everyone else, somehow make perfect sense in God’s economy.

So climb up on whatever altar God is beckoning you to. Look at your hands…what are you clutching so tightly? Open your hands to God…worship Him on this altar of sacrifice. Withhold nothing from Jehovah Jireh, the LORD who provides. Whatever He has called you to sacrifice, it is only so He can bless you in a much bigger way!