Sunday, January 13, 2019

Familiar Wood

Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith.  “Abraham!”  God called.  “Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.”  “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah.  Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”  The next morning Abraham got up early.  He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac.  Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about.  On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.  “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the servants.  “The boy and I will travel a little farther.  We will worship there, and then we will come right back.”  So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife.  As the two of them walked on together, Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?”  “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.  “We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”  “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered.  And they both walked on together.  When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it.  Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.  And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice.  At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”  “Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!”  “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said.  “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God.  You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”  Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket.  So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son.  Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”).  To this day, people still use that name as a proverb:  “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”    Genesis 22:1-14(NLT)

Pictures are a large part of how we remember things.  When I hear the word “sacrifice” I see my Mom and Dad in that 4-room bungalow of a home, sitting at the kitchen table figuring out how they were going to make the house payment after giving their tithes at church, and sending support to their missionary in China.  When Elizabeth and I were surviving seminary days I always had that kitchen table snapshot in my mind whenever Mom and Dad’s envelope arrived every month during the entire 3 years we were in New Orleans.
Another sacrificial picture that is burned into my memory is Private Ryan, the only surviving brother (out of 4) during the landing at Normandy in WW11.  The soldiers who went to retrieve Ryan from behind enemy lines nearly all died, and will always serve to help me remember sacrifice. 
God asked a large sacrifice of Abraham.  The text tells us God said for him to take his only son, the one he loved, and follow God to Mt. Moriah to make of him a burnt sacrificial offering to God.  I’m wondering if any of us could have taken the first step in that journey.
But that’s exactly what Abraham did; he saddled the donkey and assembled what he would need…a couple of servants, his son, and some wood he chopped for the fire.  And then he went. 
I’m certain he went with more questions than understanding, all anger and no joy, and trembling over having to do this, as well as wondering if he’d be able to finish the job.  Abraham knew if he couldn’t do it, he’d be resisting the Sovereign, Almighty God of the universe, and he would be in trouble, big trouble!  He also knew if he completed God’s request, his life would be over, having killed his own son.  This was the ultimate no-win act of obedience.  But he went.
The story has its Hallmark movie ending, with an angel stopping Abraham’s knife-hand just in time, God supplying a sacrificial animal, and the patriarch passing the test of faith.
Now that’s the story line; what do we make of how this story affects us, and what is so special about the wood…the familiar wood?
I believe the wood is significant in this story because it represents God’s provision, the way God supplies every need we have.  Abraham was faced with a long, dangerous walk in unfamiliar territory, to do something in obedience to God which he’d never before encountered or even considered.  In a microcosmic way, what Abraham did is what every believer does every day, with every step of faith.  And God, ever understanding our needs, gave Abraham the familiar to bring into his journey of the unknown.  The wood is mentioned four times and helps us understand God’s provision and our obedience.
Let’s inspect Abraham’s pile of familiar wood:
A Symbol of Commitment
The wood wasn’t magical…it was just wood that Abraham cut and bound up.  What’s unique is that Abraham didn’t wait till he got to Moriah to gather up brush.  He chose wood from home and carried it for three days.  This was preparation to follow-through and tells us Abraham was committed to God’s will in this task.
One of the realities of regular weekly worship is that it demonstrates our willingness to be committed to God’s ways more than our own preferences.  Abraham had sworn covenant with God to be faithful (much like we make vows of faithfulness when we become part of Christ’s church).
A Symbol of Submission
The second mention of the wood was when they arrived at Mt. Moriah.  Abraham took the wood and put it on Isaac’s shoulder; he made the sacrifice carry the burden.  Sometimes, as you follow Jesus, you’re required to offer a sacrifice; at other times you might BE the sacrifice.  Submission is a matter of the heart, and the question at this point is always:  How far are you willing to go to obey God?
A Symbol of Faith
The third mention of the wood is when Abraham arranged the altar, placing the wood where the sacrifice would be laid.  Abraham was following through, even knowing that besides shedding his son’s blood, he would burn his body to ashes.
This was the son of promise.  Abraham was over 100 years old and had only this child to fulfill all God’s promises of his family multiplying into a nation.  God’s covenant was that his offspring and descendants would be a people as numerous as the grains of sand on the ocean’s shore.  And that was supposed to be accomplished through Isaac.  What faith is this?  It was faith that God would do whatever was necessary to fulfill His promise, even if it meant bringing Isaac back from the dead ashes.
I have a little prayer saying on my desk that my parents gave me the night I was ordained
I think of Abraham’s obedience when I see that sign.  All he had was his obedience and a stack of familiar wood to build a sacrificial fire for his God.  He built it!
A Surrender of Ultimate Obedience
The final mention of the familiar wood was by the angel when he stopped Abraham’s arm from plunging the knife in Isaac.  When Abraham looked at the thicket, there was the sacrifice that would take Isaac’s place!
It is said that every miracle you read about in Scripture starts out as a problem.  If you do the math that adds up well:  Blindness is a problem, as is being lame, or deaf, or mute, or a prisoner.  Lazarus certainly had a problem, being in a grave.  These are the problems; miracles are God’s undoing of problems. 
That “familiar wood” was Abraham and Isaac’s reminder all the way from their home to Mt. Moriah of the problem God had laid in their path.  In the end it was the wood containing the sacrificial lamb that was their miracle.  And all it took was the honesty of complete surrender to God’s will, even when neither Isaac nor his dad understood a bit of it!
So, what difficult thing has God placed before you? 
·      Are you in debt up to your eyeballs?
·      Is there some health question threatening to eat you for a snack?
·      Is your marriage crumbling into a pile of dust?
·      Have you been threatened?
·      Bullied?
·      Undocumented?
·      Do you feel unconnected or unloved, like you don’t belong?
When you discover God is pointing you towards Mt. Moriah, get ready for the trip.  And don’t forget to chop some familiar wood.  Because sometimes the wood IS the solution, even though it only looks like a problem.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Let the church say “Amen”!

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[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com

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