My most favourite, most challenging story in the Bible, that I come back to again, and again and again, is known as the binding of Isaac. This is the story of when God tells Abraham to take Isaac to Mount Moriah and offer him as a burnt offering.
There are two important factors in this story:
- Isaac was God’s promised heir to Abraham, given, miraculously, when Abraham was a very old man.
- Abraham was prepared to do as God asked of him.
This account in Genesis 22:1-19, challenges me greatly, for I do not know that I would pass such a test.
It also reminds me of the great verses in the middle of Lamentations:
“Yet hope returns when I remember this one thing:
The Lord‘s unfailing love and mercy still continue,
Fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise.
The Lord is all I have, and so in him I put my hope.”
It is the final line (above) that speaks to me as fitting with the binding of Isaac account …
The Lord is all I have, and so in him I put my hope
That line is the It is well with my Soul parallel. It is the affirmation that if God is all I have, I can be satisfied, I can even have hope.
Sounds good, yes?
Okay, but what if, we were to define things that we might not have, yet still proclaim that if the Lord is all I have, in him I put my hope?
So, how about not getting accepted into the trade or school program you have always dreamed? Or having a medical diagnosis that will change your future planning? Or your child dying? Or finding out you cannot have children? Or someone else getting the promotion you so wanted? Or losing your job? Or your spouse having an affair? Or your spouse dying? Or, or, or?
Can we still say if the Lord is all I have, in him I put my hope?
This is not just an Old Testament teaching either, as Jesus reiterated where God should rate in our lives, when he was being tempted by the devil (Luke 4:8):
Jesus answered,
“It is written:
‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
I admit it is uncomfortable, yet, could you (could I) bind up that which we value most in this life, and lay it on an alter in obedience and willingness to pass the test, to show that we fear God more than we love that thing, that dream, that person?
Could we pass such a test?
itsawonderfilledlife 