Every time I read the account of Abraham being instructed to sacrifice his son, Isaac, in Genesis 22, I can't quite seem to wrap my mind around it. Firstly, Abraham and his wife waited years to have a child and eventually God promised to give them a son. So, this promised gift that God had given to them, He now was asking for Abraham to give it back to Him. This is a strange concept to me, but it is still second to the fact that God was asking Abraham to sacrifice his son. This seems very contrary to the God who was so opposed to blood shed.
However, as we read Genesis 22, we don't have any record of Abraham's reaction to God when he was commanded to sacrifice Isaac. I can only imagine what my reaction would have been! But with Abraham, we see that he went to worship God. Again, this would not be towards the top of my list of things to do if God commanded me to kill my son, the very son He promised to give me after waiting several years. I find that more than the ethical questions that surround this passage at times, Abraham's response is the main event to be noticed. He worshipped God.
I freely admit that I don't worship God enough, especially when life is not going like I had planned and thought best. I get a little upset with God from time to time and I feel the need to remind Him of how I have my life planned out. Not so with Abraham. He worshipped. This serves as a tremendous reminder to me in my relationship with God. As God reveals things in my life that I hold onto, my response must be one of immediate worship. God is not in need of my explanations. I must worship Him immediately. My prayer is that God will reveal the things that I hold onto that keep me from Him, and that as He does so, that my response will be one of immediate worship. Just like Abraham, I must respond in worship. Abraham clearly sawa God as being worthy of His worship and I must constantly work to do the same.
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