Methodical Obedience

So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. (Genesis 22:3 NASB)

My wife and I finished watching "Taken" where a father uses his special ops skills to rescue his daughter from an overseas human trafficking mob.  I can't do that, I don't have those skills.  The list of things I can do to fix such a situation forms a very short list.  I want that sort of ability, of control, but I don't have it. 

Seeing that movie was scary for two reasons beyond the obvious one.  First, it scared me because I know that can't be done anyway, not by one person anyway.  Second I was scared because I know what it means that I want that sort of control; it separates me from my Master, the One truly in control.  Such desire, when given room in my soul, is me grabbing the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  It's me wanting to stand in the place of my Master in my life and world.  Want it all I want, it's not going to happen, so the only result is separation from my Master.

Abraham has been told to take his only son (the only one left because of God), and go burn him completely on an altar to God.  His response is to follow very methodical steps to accomplish this, steps that ensure his success rather than failure.  He rises early not to waste time.  He saddles the donkey to ensure he could pack all he would need.  He took help with the bags so he could do the climbing necessary (on Mount Moriah), and not have to worry about leaving the bags behind.  He split the wood for the fire that would soon be consuming his precious son.  What's not in this verse, but later on is that he had fire prepared even before they ascended Moriah.  He was methodical even on the trip.

In obedience to my Master, being methodical to ensure success is an excellent quality.  But when my Master tells me to do something repulsive, shocking, and that I know will shatter my personality, I might not be so methodical.  The thing is, I should be.  I don't have to understand.  I don't have to know what is going on that I can't see.  I don't need to see from the perspective of my Master.  All I have to have is faith that He sees, that He knows, and that He understands.  I don't need the "knowledge of good and evil", I need the faith to leave that knowledge in the hands of my Master; to obey Him without reservation, holding nothing back from Him, not even my family, not even my sanity.  I can barely imagine such faith.

Now I suppose that Abraham thought that the fulfillment of the promises God had made of all Abraham would receive through Isaac wasn't his problem, it was God's.  I suppose that he held that perspective and that this thought empowered him to be obedient in this horrific exercise.  But still, there had to be some level of willingness to also sacrifice the blessings he was to receive from God for his relationship with God.  There just had to be.  In the games of "what if..." that played through the mind of this parent, there had to be some level of resignation that he might not have those blessings after all.  But he would have the connection with God.

Do you wonder if at this point Abraham had to also weigh whether or not he wanted a relationship with such a god?  Keep in mind that in this cultural environment, worship that included child sacrifice wasn't unheard of.  Things done in worship that would be crazy to us were not that crazy back then.  But there were plenty of worship options that didn't include child sacrifice.  Abraham could have opted for one of those on the religious "cafeteria plans" in vogue at the time.  He didn't.  He took God as He is rather than as Abraham wished or wanted Him to be.  It may not be popular, but it is necessary for true faith in my Master.  But I have to say, I'm not enjoying this part of the journey.  Faith is shockingly hard sometimes.

Specifically Precious

He said, "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 NASB)

One historical context of this is also a literary context.  God had already told Abraham to send Hagar and Abraham's first born away into the desert.  Because of God, at His command, Abraham had lost one precious son.  Isaac wasn't always Abraham's "only son", and there, as here, it was the fault of Abraham's Master.  This passage cannot be understood, and Abraham's faith cannot be really understood, without that context.

As the writer of Hebrews points out, Abraham figured God would raise Isaac from the dead or something since the promise given to Abraham was to come through Isaac.  But I also believe that Abraham had arrived at a place through faith that would accept the removal of the promise of land and seed.  As long as Abraham continued to hold conversations with God, he would do anything asked, and give anything requested. 

I was discussing the Calvinist theological position with a professor at school once (well, more than once, but in this one instance) and I asked if Calvinists could ever be sure that they were one of the "elect".  The answer is "no", but from their faith and behavior, the answer was "more than likely."  In other words they assume so.  But with that assumption had to come some sort of acceptance that even if they were designed to be "objects of wrath" and not the "elect" they would faithfully walk to that eventuality and glorify God with their life here on earth, and in whatever they were designated for after this life.  Essentially, any true-blue Calvinist has to accept that as part of their position.  Before you condemn that posistion, ask yourself if you have that same level of devotion to God?

In a way, Abraham shows that level of devotion, but in the things of the life he knew, not the one he didn't.  It was more real and visceral than some nebulous possibility or low probability.  This was the flesh of his son.  He was about to kill and burn up completely the child of his old age, irreplaceable, even by his Master (unless, like the writer of Hebrews said, he received Isaac back from the dead).  The gut response, the required level of devotion and faith is actually to a point most self-proclaimed Christians would be unwilling to go.  It suddenly deviates from the bounds of our definitions of God and therefore we cannot follow.

But it deviates from our definitions, and steers us directly into Who the Maker and Sustainer of the universe truly is.  The question for me is will I remain in the popular definitions of my fellow believers, or follow my Master "off reservation" (pun very deeply intended) into Who He truly is.  Will I agree to sacrifice everything at His command?  Will I follow Him to the exclusion of my wife, at the sacrifice of my only child?  Will I renounce my job, home, church, and anything else precious to me at the request of my Master?  Is He truly my Master?  Is He truly Lord of my life?  And, to the point, am I truly His servant in a relationship with the True God of the universe?

Devotional Obedience, Instead of Guilty Acquiescence

Obedience as the key to the nature of my Master is not a new theme with Chambers.  But in using Genesis 22, he makes his point with a sledge hammer.  In verses 15-19, the account wraps up with the second statement from the Angel of Yahweh.  The nations of the world will be blessed through Abraham’s innumerable seed because of Abraham’s obedience that had no limits.  There is a prerequisite for obedience though.  I have to hear my Master’s voice.

I suppose there are a lot of reasons I may not.  One of the ones I think I overlook most often is that I am already doing what He wants; He’s not asking me to change or add something else to my work for Him.  This doesn’t mean I’ve arrived or I’m already so useful there’s nothing left to do.  It means the work He’s doing He is doing through someone else.  Part of the lesson is humility and learning to become willing to be in the background.  Obedience for me is not just doing what I’m told, but not doing what I’m not told.

Some things I know to do regardless.  I am to be kind to others, love my enemies, bless those who curse me, and walk an extra mile with the civic leader taking advantage of me.  Those things are not dependent upon my Master telling me to be them.  I also know that I am to seek Him constantly in worship and prayer.  That’s not something I do only when He calls me to it.  I seek to discern His hands in the works of nature around me.  I share what He provides to me with others.  And I blog.

But when it comes to fitting into the fabric of my church, there I have to be mindful of my Master’s leading.  I am to fit, submit to the pastor and leaders, and participate.  But the degree and the specific role are designated by my Master, not by what I think I would enjoy the most or get me the most attention.  There are things I’m not supposed to do because He has them designated for someone else.  I need to listen for His voice in these things, and go where He tells me, not where He doesn’t.

This runs against my co-dependency and my people-pleasing nature.  I want people to be happy with me and it’s something I think I can control.  Both things fly in the face of my servitude to my Master.  I want Him to be happy, and I can’t control Him or others.  If my Master is happy with me, then even my family can be unhappy with me.  But I have to be sure He is happy.  I have to seek His face and listen for His voice.  Sure He often speaks through the faces of others, but it is discerning His voice through the noise of their desperation that is so needed.

So, Abraham I am not, but such as I am will I be.  And I can only hope to grow in my relationship with my Master that His voice is easy to hear.  Then the challenge of obedience will be easier to face.  I think…

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, November 17

No Questions Please

The account of Abraham asked to sacrifice Isaac is an amazing story.  In Genesis 22 the account is laid out from the command of Yahweh to the eventual provision of a ram.  The context of this story in the life of Abraham makes it even more remarkable.  Abraham has been promised that through Isaac will his promise from Yahweh be fulfilled.  And now he carries a torch and a knife, lays the wood on Isaac, and heads up a mountain to kill Isaac, the child of promise.  It had to be odd for Abraham, but he never questions his Master.

Chambers points out the amazing level of obedience in Abraham.  He goes the next day, he doesn’t get the insight of others, but he also doesn’t question Yahweh.  This is especially odd since Abraham is not above questioning his Master.  He questioned his Master about Sodom and Gomorrah.  He questioned his Master when Ishmael was not the chosen child.  He questioned his Master when he was initially told he would be the father of a great nation.  He questioned his Master all along before, but not here.  Told to sacrifice the child of promise, and now he doesn’t question. 

Even though Yahweh is specific; actually overly specific in his command, “take you son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac;” Abraham is giving up more than Isaac by obeying.  Yahweh made a covenant with Abraham that subordinated Yahweh to the promise, and yet here he asks Abraham to do something that would go back on that promise.  He asks Abraham to participate in that renege, and bring about the loss.  The context brings out a much more powerful loss than just of Abraham’s son, and Abraham doesn’t question.  “Here, help Me ruin your life, break My promise, and take away what is most precious to you.”  I would have a question.

So, for me, what would be at stake if it were I at this point?  Honestly, one of the first things that springs to mind is how I will explain this to others.  So, my first problem is people-pleasing again.  But I also squirm under such a command because it doesn’t fit my understanding of my Master.  It might not be Him commanding me.  So my second problem is limiting the character of my Master to only what I can imagine.  Lastly, I just want the boy alive.  I wouldn’t want to do it.  I would push back hard to defend what I hold precious.  So, another problem I have is idolatry.  The more I dig, the more problems I find in myself through this account.

Abraham had learned not to question.  He had learned through the previous questions that he could never master the character of his Master.  Can I accept that I will never really understand my Master?

Abraham learned from his attempts to work out the promise on his own that he could not accomplish the plans of his Master; only Yahweh accomplishes the plans of Yahweh.  Am I able to accept that, in obedience and submission, I largely play a spectator role?

Abraham had friends, he had servants, and his household was a family.  He takes one of his servants with him, and has him stay with the donkey while he goes up the mountain to worship with Isaac.  Abraham knows he won’t be coming down with Isaac and that they didn’t take a goat.  It won’t take a brilliant servant to figure out what happened up there.  The household of tight relationships will never be the same, and he goes anyway without question.  How can I be unquestionably obedient before my peers knowing what will happen?

I don’t like these areas of growth in my life.  I don’t want to grow in them; I want to maintain my independence in these areas.  But they cause a separation between me and my Master.  After seeing the command of my Master on Abraham, do I want to close that gap between us?  Do I want to be closer to such a God?

The end of the story is that Yahweh provided a ram for the offering.  The point at which He provided was at the point where the point of the knife was about to plunge into Isaac.  What if He hadn’t provided the ram?  Can I follow through in my obedience without the expectation that my Master will take away the consequences of my obedience? 

I have been down part of this road already.  The process my Master led me through to get to Nevada touched some of these points.  But the lesson of accepting the character of my Master as He is, not as I want Him to be is one I have left before me.  I sense that I have assumptions, unconfessed frameworks of my own manufacture, that I use to view and interact with my Master.  Those will need to go.  I don’t know when or how, but I know my Master will not leave them in place.  When the lesson comes, I don’t want to question.  That would mean I have yet another lesson after that one…oh wait, yeah, never mind.  Duh me, of course I have lots of lessons ahead of me.  Well, I have my pencil and paper for notes, I will have a good breakfast, and I’m ready for the test, I think.

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, November 11