When I Laid My Isaac Down

This fall, I have had the privilege of attending NANC training along with other members of Salem Baptist Church. During the course of our training, we were instructed in the impact that our chosen idols have on our lives. In short, an idol is anything or anyone that I expect to do for me what only God can do. While many of these are not wrong in and of themselves, it is our misappropriated use of them that causes them to be sinful and ultimately to become barriers to the full work of God in our lives. I would like to propose another category of people and things that Christians encounter: Isaacs. Isaacs represent the fulfilled promises of God that we often experience on our journeys of faith. As creatures of the tangible, we tend to cling tenaciously to these people and possessions. The reference concerning Isaac is directly related to the Biblical narrative found in Genesis 22. At this point in Abraham’s life, he has seen the fulfilled promise of God through the birth of Isaac, the son of promise. Although, Scripture is silent concerning many of the early years of Isaac, I believe the events of Genesis 22 occurred when Isaac was a young adult. Abraham had received the promise of God and had seen that promise grow into young adulthood. Then one day God called on Abraham to do the unthinkable – to offer his son, the very evidence of the promise of God, as a burnt sacrifice. So great was Abraham’s trust in Jehovah that he responded in immediate obedience, and he must have imparted that unwavering trust to Isaac, because he willingly followed in his father’s unwavering trust and obedience. Such was not always the case. In earlier chapters of Genesis, God allows us to see Abraham acting independently of Divine guidance and wisdom, when he chose the course of least resistance and self-preservation. Instead of judging His wavering servant, God chose to judge the unbelievers who had acted in response to Abraham’s distortion of the truth. For years, these actions puzzled me, but recently I have concluded that God determines to grow His servants in trust, and His gentle methods of inducing such growth often include responding to failure with grace. After years of dealing with such a gracious God, Abraham was free to respond obediently to what might seem to be a ludicrous demand. Hebrews 11 records the heart response of Abraham to the divine directive: “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead . . .” (vs. 17-19). Abraham willingly offered his son, but just before he drew his knife to deal a deathblow to his son, God stayed his hand and provided a substitute sacrifice.

Reflecting on these events in the life of Abraham has presented a parallel in my own life. Many of my postings have referenced the struggles I have had with my dissertation. I was finally able to schedule what I hoped would be my final defense, but things were looking rather bleak. One day as I sought the direction of the Lord in all of this, I felt strongly impressed to erect an altar of my own and to give the dissertation fully and completely to Him. The gist of the words I uttered to Him are as follows: “Lord, I’ve come this far in my academic journey. It is my desire to bring it to completion, but Lord, if You say the word, I will lay it down and walk away from it. It’s Yours; Your will be done.” Out of that cry of surrender or what Gothard refers to as “death of a vision,” God’s work on my behalf began to be evident. I was able to complete my doctoral program, and through it all, I learned that the gracious God who strips us of our idols can be trusted with our Isaacs. I know, because God is good all the time.