the importance of fathers today doing the same for their sons. This week we want
to look at the single biggest faith building event in Abraham’s and Isaac’s
common experience. That experience is recorded in Genesis 22. Have you ever
looked at Abraham offering Isaac in this light. If they did not have an
incredible relationship before the events of these chapters, Isaac probably
would have turned against Abraham for the rest of his life. Abraham tied him up,
laid him on an altar after making him carry the fire wood, and lifted his hand
to kill him and burn his body as a sacrifice to God.
Do you think Isaac ever forgot that God came first in Abraham’s life? Do
you think Isaac ever forgot the day that God saved his life by having a voice
from Heaven stop his father and providing a ram for the sacrifice in his stead?
How could Isaac ever doubt that God would take care of him?
Now, there has never been and never will be another case like God asking
Abraham to sacrifice his son on an altar. However, God expects every father to
put Him before any children and even before his wife. When we get that confused
we pass on the wrong faith. If our faith is in our job, our spouse, our family,
our parents, our preacher, our kids, the government, etc. that is what will be
passed on to the next generation. It is one thing to say God is first and I
trust him completely, but it is a completely different thing to live it. Abraham
lived it and his son learned it. If we live it our children will learn it as
well. Talk is cheap, live it!