Tough Tactics for Life’s Most Difficult Trials
Abraham the Believer: Part 14
Genesis 22:1-19
By Dave Redick

Abraham was fully ready to kill his beloved son, Isaac, though it must have grieved him beyond words. He would obey God, hoping against hope that God would somehow make it right so that the promises He had made to Abraham would be fulfilled. The knife was raised, catching the glint of the sun on its sharp blade. The deed would be done. To that Abraham was resigned.

David Kraft grew up in a Christian family in the South San Francisco Bay area of Northern California. His father was a minister – a godly man who worked in a church in the South Bay. Young David grew up with his father’s love and his father’s consistent example. When he was old enough to make the decision for himself, he chose to become a Christian. In time, he left his family in California to go to a Seminary in Denver, Colorado to prepare for full-time ministry.

David was a big, athletic young man. At age 32 he was six feet two inches tall and weighted two hundred pounds. He worked with a group of Christian Athletes.

Then suddenly, he was diagnosed with cancer. The disease wracked his body and over a period of time he dropped from two hundred pounds to just eighty pounds.

When he was about ready to pass from this life into eternity, he asked his father to come into his hospital room. Lying there on the bed, he looked up and said, "Dad, do you remember when I was a little boy, how you used to hold me in your arms close to your chest?"

David's father nodded. Then David said, "Do you think, Dad, you could do that for me one more time?"

The older Mr. Kraft nodded again and bent down to pick up his 32-year-old, six-foot-two-inch, eighty-pound son. As he held him close to his chest, his son’s face was right next to his. The two were eye to eye. Tears were streaming down both faces. The son said simply to the father, "Thank you for building the kind of character into my life that can enable me to face even a moment like this."

David Kraft passed into eternity shortly after that. (1)

Few things are as difficult for a parent as losing a child in death – especially when that parent must stand by helplessly, unable to stop it. What parent wouldn't gladly change places with his or her child in such a situation?

We have before us this morning one of the most remarkable passages in the entire Bible – a story even more poignant than the one I just told you. It is the story of a father and son. The father was a godly man who lived as consistently by faith as any other person on the earth in his day. His example still stands as a model for others who live by faith. The son was one who, for as much as we know of him, willingly followed in his father’s faithful footsteps. Father and son were as close as any two human beings could be.

Then one day the prospect of death raised its ugly head between them in a way that was very hard to understand or accept. The circumstance pitted the father’s deep love for his son against loyalty to his God.

Genesis 22 is our text for this message. Please join me at that place in your Bibles. We’ll be looking at verses 1-19.

While there are many things that can be learned from this passage, I want to focus on the characteristics of the faith of the father in this story.

This chapter contains the greatest test of Abraham’s life - a trial of a magnitude that would break the faith of many. While it isn’t likely God will ask any of us to offer an only child as a burnt offering, we can be certain that God will test us. "Do not be surprised," writes James in the New Testament, "at the fiery ordeal among you that comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you…." (2) Tough trials call for tough tactics. Please pay close attention to this chapter and learn its lessons because you never know when it will be your turn to take the biggest test of your life.

Let’s begin the text…

If these words sound abrupt to us, understand how startling they sounded to Abraham. It is impossible to tell accurately how many years had passed between the weaning of Isaac, the child of promise, the boy named "laughter," (3) that we considered in Genesis 21 and the time of this communication from God. We do know that in the interim, there is no recorded communication from heaven. It is widely held that Isaac was a young man by the time Abraham received this command. So after an apparently extended silence from God, suddenly came this command.

How strange it must have sounded to Abraham. (Hey, it sounds strange to us!) The Patriarch had waited twenty-five years for God to give him Isaac and now that same God wanted the boy killed? How could that make sense?

I believe it didn’t make sense – at least to Abraham. It probably wouldn’t have made sense to us back then either. That is a great part of the difficulty of this test. In fact, that is the reason most of the tests God gives us are so difficult.

What is the most common question we ask when trials come upon us? Isn’t it "Why?" We feel we must have a reason if we are to endure. Yet if God gave Abraham a reason going into this, it isn't recorded. He simply 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."

A single sentence. Clear in content. No further explanation. No opportunity to write for more information. No phone menu to say,

Just two choices – go or stay. What would you or I have done? I’m sure the millions who have read this passage down through the millennia have asked themselves that question.

Suppose God resurrected Abraham and I interviewed him up here in front of the congregation. What do you think he would tell us?

"Father Abraham, Friend of God, Survivor of one of the greatest tests men have ever been called on to take, tell us how to pass the most difficult tests of our lives."

I believe, if Abraham could speak to us today, the first thing he would tell us to do is this:

1. Obey Promptly

Looking at the way Abraham dealt with this test, we can see quite clearly that he would tell us that the first tough tactic for life’s most difficult trials is prompt obedience.

Look at verse 3.

Look at the verbs: He "arose… saddled… took… split… and went...." He didn’t hesitate. That’s how the text presents it. He took his son and left for Moriah. Do you suppose he got any sleep that prior night? Do you suppose he wrestled with God as his grandson, Jacob, would someday do?

Can you imagine his struggle? Besides the obvious personal loss of his beloved son, Isaac, what else might Abraham have had in his mind?

For these questions, there was no answer forthcoming. All Abraham had to go on was a command from God that seemed to go against everything he knew to be good and right.

I must confess that it is my nature, when I don’t want to do something, or I don’t fully understand something, to procrastinate. I’ll put it off as long as I can. But then, I guess I don’t have the same stature of faith as Abraham had, either.

There is something to learn here.

In other settings, you have heard me recommend deliberate caution in major decisions. "It is a snare," says the writer of Proverbs, "to say, ‘It is holy!’ and after the vows, to make inquiry." (4) Yet that kind of hesitation and caution is for when we don’t know the will of God clearly. In such cases, we need to take the time to ascertain what God wants us to do.

This situation was different. Abraham knew what God wanted him to do. He didn’t know why, but he certainly knew what.

My grandfather used to say to me in circumstances where I was hesitant to act, "You’d better go now before you lose your nerve."

Perhaps that is what was behind Abraham’s promptness. Once you understand the will of God clearly in a matter, it doesn’t get easier to obey if you wait. It gets harder. Prompt obedience is the first tough tactic for facing life’s most difficult trials.

"What else would you advise for us when we face tough trials, Father Abraham?"

I believe Abraham would advise us to:

2. Obey Independently

Abraham took only Isaac and two servants to help carry the items for the sacrifice and their provisions for the trip. It appears that he told no one of their mission, or, if he did, that he didn’t tell them of the nature of it. Can you imagine the fit Sarah would have thrown had she known what Abraham was planning to do? Remember how adamant she was about casting out Ishmael when he taunted Isaac? A mama bear guarding her cub! No, this would have to be kept between Abraham and his God.

The distance from Beersheba to Moriah was around fifty miles.

By the way, there is something else. We learn from 2 Chronicles 3:1 that Mount Moriah would be the place where Solomon’s temple would be built years later. The place where Isaac was to be offered would later be the site the Old Testament system of sacrifice. More on that later.

Note that Abraham didn’t take the servants to the actual place of the sacrifice. What could they do to help anyway, other than express their horror at what Abraham was about to do? No, this act was between Abraham and his God alone. Others wouldn’t understand and might dissuade him.

There are certain aspects of our faith that must be experienced alone. To share them with others is not possible, or it might even be detrimental. It’s great to have the support of others when it is available. It’s helpful to ask others’ advice when we can. It’s wonderful when others encourage us. But we must also understand that the root of our faith is really between God and us. No one else can handle that part.

Remember when Jesus began to reveal his coming crucifixion to the disciples? Peter vowed that he would never let such a thing happen. Jesus’ response was what? "Get behind me, Satan!" Peter’s interference, well intentioned though it was, could only keep Jesus from fulfilling his mission.

There are some things we must pass through alone. For Abraham, it was Moriah. Years later, for Jesus, it would be Golgotha.

We will have our lonely times when we must obey independently, because others will not understand our commitment to God and will try to interfere.

Is your faith the kind that can stand alone when necessary?

"Well Father Abraham, what other tough tactics would you advise for the most difficult trials of our lives?"

I believe that if Abraham were here with us, based on this passage that describes this incident of his life, he would also tell us to:

3. Obey Confidently

While still difficult, it would be easier for you and me to take our only sons to Moriah because we know the outcome. We know that God stopped Isaac’s death at the last minute. It’s when we don’t know what is going to happen that we have our greatest problems of faith.

A quick reading of these verses might give us the mistaken idea that Abraham just resigned himself to the thought that he was going to loose Isaac for good and that God was unjust in His dealings. As often is the case though, a single word in this passage changes all that. In this case it is the little word "we."

Did you see it? "…We will worship and return to you."

Abraham was expecting to get Isaac back! He didn’t know how. Nor did he know when. He only knew that God had promised that his descendants would be named through this boy and that could only happen if the boy were alive.

The New Testament writer of Hebrews gives us a glimpse inside Abraham’s mind as to what he was thinking at this point that would cause him to say, "we will worship and return to you."

We read in Hebrews 11:17-19: "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he to whom it was said, "In Isaac your descendants shall be called." He considered that God is able to raise men even from the dead; from which he also received him back as a type."

How is it that Abraham came to the conclusion that God might raise Isaac from the dead? How many resurrections do you suppose he had seen in his day? There are none recorded in Scripture.

Abraham’s thinking was a deduction. God had promised to bless him with descendants through this boy. How could He possibly do that if the boy were dead? There was only one way. He would have to give the boy life again.

Paul says in Romans 4:21 that Abraham was "fully assured that what He [God] had promised, He was able also to perform."

That, my friends, is faith – the rock solid trust that God will do whatever must be done to keep His promises, even when it seems impossible.

This principle applies to us living today this way: If God has made a promise to you and me in His word, He will deliver it. Our confidence in His promises is our faith.

Is there anything else Abraham might tell us about surviving the most difficult tests of faith if he were here with us? I’ll suggest one more. I believe Abraham would tell us to:

4. Obey Completely

How difficult it must have been for Abraham to climb that hill with his son, knowing what he had to do! Then came that gut-wrenching question from Isaac about the obvious absence of a sacrificial lamb. All Abraham could say was, "The Lord will provide for Himself the lamb for the sacrifice, my son."

By then Isaac knew what his father was going to do. One can only imagine what unspoken looks they exchanged as Isaac presented his hands and feet to be bound by the ropes his father had brought along. Both now knew that he was to be the sacrifice. Yet it appears that he didn’t resists. Isaac’s submission to his father here is remarkable. Given his youth and growing strength, surely he could have broken free from His father’s grip and escaped had he chosen to do so. Yet that didn’t happen. No struggle is recorded.

Abraham was fully ready to kill his beloved son, Isaac, though it must have grieved him beyond words. He would obey God, hoping against hope that God would somehow make it right so that the promises He had made to Abraham would be fulfilled. The knife was raised, catching the glint of the sun on its sharp blade. The deed would be done. To that Abraham was resigned.

Wow! Hollywood’s high drama depiction has nothing over these verses.

We have here a picture of complete willingness to obey.

What a story! Complete willingness to obey, no matter what the cost.

As we read through this story, did you find yourself wondering how a loving God could ever ask someone as faithful as Abraham to sacrifice his son? If so, you are not alone. The thought of human sacrifice repels all of us, just as it should. As a result, many who read this passage impugn evil motives to God.

Yet this is not a picture of evil. It is a picture of extreme love. God stopped Abraham from killing his son. But He didn’t stop when it came time to offer the life of his His own Son on our behalf.

When it was time for God’s own son to leave heaven and come to earth to be a sacrifice for the sins of mankind, God went through the gut-wrenching horror that took place at the cross with all its cruelty. He did not intervene on behalf of His beloved Son. And he did it for you and me, my friends – to take away our sins.

Can we walk away unaffected? Can we scoff or piddle around with such truth? Can we see this and not be moved in life-changing gratitude?

If so, then there is probably little hope for us. Perhaps we are beyond God’s reach. I think rather that we can be moved, and should be moved to offer Him praise for his sacrifice on our behalf.

Give God your life. His sacrifice nothing less.

Footnotes: Use your "back" button to return to your place.

1. Ron Lee Davis, "Introducing Christ to Your Child," Preaching Today, Tape No. 92.
2. 1 Peter 4:12
3. Genesis 21:6
4. Proverbs 20:25

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

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All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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