17 By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, 18 of whom he had been told, ‘It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named after you.’ 19 He considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead—and figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. (Hebrews 11:17-19)
After the mountain top experience comes the valley as we step back into reality. By the end of the wedding and honeymoon, we had had our first big fight. After signing my first job post college, teaching contract, came a low-level seventh grade math class with hyperactive students. After all the celebration of being sent to the mission field came life in a famine relief camp with starving people lined up at my door begging for food. In our litany of heroes and heroines, we have come to Abraham, known as “Father of the Faith.” At age 100 he has the son of the promise from God but then Hebrews tells us that God put Abraham to the “test.” Ouch.
We don’t like to think of God testing us. But the truth is that faith is not an automatic solution to the problems of life and many days we look out at a universe that seems like God is hiding beyond the stratosphere. Living faith in the grey margins of life is a challenge. Abraham feels called to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. He travels three days to the mountain and leaving the servant and going with Isaac who is carrying the wood for the sacrifice, the father and son climb the mountain. It would seem that Isaac trusted his father’s faith and allowed himself to be bound and put on the altar. Whew. Tests are so hard.
I suspect we have all gone through times when our faith felt tested. Perhaps we were not offering our child on an altar but we had to make choices between cultural expectations and our internal faith convictions. I do not know what that looked like for you but we do know that God had not abandoned Abraham and had a ram in the bush to sacrifice. Isaac walked through this near death experience, trusting his father, not unlike Jesus walking through death at the cross, trusting God for resurrection. God was there. God is with us as we walk through disease, disaster and danger. Let us pray today for those that are walking through “the dark night of the soul” testing. May they stay focused on the promises and presence of a God who always leads, guides us and is present even when we cannot see him. Blessings.
On the Way to Wonder 