A FATHER’S DAY STORY
The man was already tired after walking only a few hours. He knew that it was going to be a long and very weary journey. As he gazed ahead he did not notice much of what was going on about him. He was concentrating on what was in the distance. As they traveled he was always searching for what was on the horizon. He was looking for the tell- tell sign of a mountain. Not just any mountain, but one in particular. Mount Moriah.
When one looked at him you did not see a man who lived a nomadic life, but a man of regal bearing. A man that was used to command and being obeyed. The years laid heavy on his body, but they had not been harsh years. Yes, he appeared old, one could see the long white hair, and the many wrinkles in his face. But his eyes were very clear, his gaze was steady. He walked with purpose. But, now when you looked into his eyes you could see that they were lost in thought.
The days passed slowly and the nights even more so. As he walked his pace began to slow. Not from weariness, but dread. Not because of his age, but because of love.
During the past few days his mind had been troubled. He had not slept well due to his turbulent thoughts. It was only one matter in a life that had conquered many matters. It was only one thought that caused a heavy burden on his heart and the sleepless nights. His legs, though used to long journeys, were now too weary to keep a decent pace. His shoulders though used to burdens seemed especially tired by the weight of his responsibility leading this procession.
He had traveled far through hot days and cold nights. Yes, he had companions for the journey, there were three men with him to share his tent. Additionally there were several animals to carry supplies and wood. His companions recognized that their leader was lost in thought. They recognized from his troubled brow that he was wrestling with his thoughts.
They kept their conversations at a low murmur so as not to disturb the old man. When at night they rested, they sang their traveling songs quietly so their leader could rest.
They had been traveling only three days. Normally, this would have been a very simple journey for them. On this occasion it was a very difficult journey. The reason was Isaac. If God had called Abraham to Mount Moriah to sacrifice an animal it would have been a simple and very easy walk. The fact that Isaac was to be the sacrifice had made this a very difficult walk.
“How could this be?’ the old man pondered, “My son, my son, in whom my inheritance lies, now to be taken away.”
“First he was promised to me, now I am to sacrifice him. Why?”
“How will I be able to look my wife in the face when I tell her what I have done?”
“How can I return home with blood on my hands? The blood of my son?”
“We waited for this child for so many years to the point we began to doubt that God would keep His promise. Now that he is here, why does God want to take him away?”
With a heavy heart an a weary mind, Abraham slowly approached Mount Moriah. Abraham, only days before a joyful father, was now a sad but determined father. He had many questions, but no answers. Yet, he continued to forge ahead to that terrible mountain.
Yes, Abraham questioned, what loving father would not? Yet, Abraham still continued to obey God’s command.
What had led to this?
“I will make you the father of a great nation”, Genesis 12:2 quotes God as He made this statement to Abraham. First, He wants Abraham to leave town and a comfortable life. Second, He doesn’t tell Abraham where he is to go, just to leave town. And then what seems as an enticement, He tells Abraham that he will be the father of a great nation! Abraham is seventy-five years old. Sarai, his wife, is and has been throughout their marriage, barren! Father of a great nation? He wasn’t even the father of one child and now God told him he would have so many that he would be the father of a great nation. You couldn’t blame Abraham if he laughed. But, he didn’t. He packed his bags, took his servants, his wife, and his nephew and left Haran.
I imagine that by this time in his life Abraham had given up on being a father. Most of us have had children by the time we are thirty. By the time we are fifty we are probably a grandfather to at least one child. By the time we are seventy-five, we are probably great-grandfathers. Yet, Abraham had no offspring. He had yet to experience the joy,
anguish,
surprise,
delights,
and sorrows of fatherhood. He had yet to experience the comfort of a little hand pressed against his. The delight of a little one totally at rest on his chest, breathing deeply in sleep. He had yet to experience the anguish of a little one crying after skinning their knee while playing.
Abraham had gone his entire life without children. 75 years, probably 55 of them married to Sarai, all of those years of hoping God would bless them, all those years wondering why things were not working out the way he had hoped , 75 years of feeling helpless, struggling with doubts and despair about his future and wondering if he would ever have heirs to share the future with.
Oh, he wanted to experience all this. But now at his advanced age he knew it was very unlikely to happen. How do you think he felt when God promised him all this? Scepticism? Hope? Amusement? Derision?
We don’t know what his thoughts were. We only know what his action was, to immediately do as God instructed. He didn’t argue. He didn’t question. He didn’t laugh. He obeyed.
When Abram took his wife, his father Terah and Lot and his family he was leaving a life of comfort and ease. At this time in history Ur was the most powerful city of its time. It also was the largest and richest city. Indeed, the city of Ur had running water and indoor plumbing. Today all that remains are a few potshards and the foundation of the city walls. Where the wheat fields were located lies nothing but sand and salt. Of the Chaldeans, that was the nationality of the people in Ur, we know very little except what the Bible tells us and the few nuggets of information that comes from their conquerors.
Abraham was told to leave Ur and head east towards Canaan. Abraham left a life of ease to go to a wild land inhabited by barbarians. He left his brother behind and many of his relatives. Yet, Abraham did not complain. He did not complain for years.
Because of his faithfulness, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, which means “father of a great multitude. Sarai’s name was changed to Sarah, meaning “princess.” By this time Abraham had been wandering around Canaan for twenty-five years.
Finally, one day he asked God where was his heir. According to the laws of that time, if an individual dies without a son, then everything would be left to his chief steward. Abraham reminded God of that fact. Turn to Genesis 15:2.
Here we have Abraham pleading with God. He is now in his nineties and he still does not have a child. God reiterates that Abraham would have descendants as numerous as the sands and the stars in the sky. Yet, Sarah was not pregnant. In fact Sarah was almost to ninety years old. Certainly she was too old to bear children.
Indeed, Sarah believed that she was to old. She spoke with her servant Hagar. Asked her to lie with Abraham and to conceive a child. She convinced Abraham, who needed little convincing, that this would be the best and only way he would ever have an heir.
Abraham had been very faithful up to now. He had accepted God’s wishes without question. He had left his home in Ur. He had left his relatives in Haran. He had spent the last twenty-five years wandering around Canaan. But now, he had become impatient. Convinced that Sarah was incapable of bearing children, he did not wait for God to work a miracle. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe in miracles. Certainly he had seen miracle over miracle in his life so far. After all, though he led a nomadic existence, he was one of the richest men in the world. He had conquered armies with God’s help. Kings bowed before him because they could see the Lord’s work in him. But now he is impatient.
But lo, there was trouble in Abraham’s tent. Hagar felt honor was bestowed upon her with her new relationship with Abraham. Hagar and Sarah fought. Eventually Hagar ran away, only to return at the intervention of an angel.
When Abraham was 99 years old, God again appeared to him and repeated his promise of a son. Abraham thought he meant Ishmael and asked for a special blessing on his son. This God granted but then informed Abraham that the son He was speaking about would be named Isaac and Sarah would give birth to him.
Abraham fell down on the ground laughing so hard upon hearing this. Sarah bear him a son? Couldn’t, wouldn’t happen. She was over 90 years old. It was impossible! Or, was it possible that he was laughing with joy? After all, Sarah was his first wife and thus very special to him. He knew of her heartache at not being able to conceive a child. Now God was assuring him that Sarah would indeed have a child. What a blessing!
Since the beginning of their union Abraham and Sarah had desired a child. What a blessing the birth of Isaac was to their marriage. The fulfillment of a lifetime had been granted by God. But their was sadness in the tent also. Jealousy. Ambition crushed. Hagar was not happy. Her son Ishmael, now fourteen years of age, was supposedly the heir apparent to Abraham’s wealth. Now there was going to be an interloper, Isaac. Soon this jealousy became hatred and Abraham was forced to choose.
Yet, Ishmael was his son, he did not want harm to come to him. Abraham prayed to God for guidance. God told Abraham that he must send Hagar and Ishmael away but that he would protect them on their journey. God further informed Abraham that Ishmael would be the father of twelve kings. Ishmael was probably around sixteen when the expulsion occurred.
Ishmael would always bear ill will towards Isaac and his descendants, but of Abraham his father, he would always love him. Ishmael would honor his father by traveling to Ephron and being present at the funeral and burial of Abraham.
Isaac grew up in a house of love. He attended his father when he worshiped and built altars to God. He understood the ceremonies and never questioned his father about his devotion to God.
Isaac was sixteen years and Abraham 120 years old when Abraham received the command from God to offer Isaac up for sacrifice. Abraham was an old man even for his time in history. He no longer had the vigor and courage to meet hardship and danger. With his age came failing health and a faltering step. Yet, God reserved the most difficult of tests for him in his old age. The burden of years layed heavy on Abrahams shoulders and he longed only for rest from toil and hardship. Now the severest test of all laid before him.
In Isaac was all of Abraham’s and Sarah’s hopes and dreams.
In Isaac was the inheritance of Abraham.
In Isaac was the beginning of God’s promise to Abraham of descendants as numerous as the sands of the desert.
In Isaac lay the foundations of a nation that would number as many people as stars in the heavens.
And now God was asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. In obedience to God’s command Abraham had left Ur, he had left the grave of his father in Haran. He had left his kindred and loved ones and wandered through the land of his inheritance in obedience to God. He had waited years for his promised son. He had sent Ishmael away upon the orders of God. And now when his only surviving son was entering adulthood, God asks him to present Isaac as a sacrifice.
What anguish did Abraham endure at this command?
How must his heart had grieved?
How far did his shoulders droop with the burden of this command?
Yet, Abraham was obedient unto God. In the middle of the night he awoke Isaac and bid him to follow. Stepping quietly through the tent so as not to awaken Sarah, Abraham gathered his things and left with two man-servants, supplies, and wood and headed towards the mountains designated by God for the sacrificial service.
For three days, Abraham and his retinue journeyed. What thoughts did Abraham have?
How did his mind wrestle with the magnitude of what he was to do?
What thoughts entered his mind when he looked at his son traveling at his side?
As they approached Mount Moriah Abrahams steps began to falter. He wanted to spend every moment that was left in the company of his son. When they approached the base of the mountain Abraham stopped under the shade of a tree and called Isaac to sit by him.
Isaac happily complied, but soon fell asleep. As Abraham looked at his sleeping son it is easy to imagine the tears falling down his face. One could imagine the loving father wanting to gather up his son in his arms and run as far as possible away from the mountain.
On the other hand, Abraham was a man of faith. He knew that God had never failed him before. When God told him that he would be the father of a great nation then he would indeed be a father of a great nation. God would not allow Abraham to sacrifice his only heir. There had to be another reason for this journey.
Abraham slowly but surely regained the confidence and the faith that he had for God. Slowly he began to steel himself for the task at hand. As daybreak rose over the mountains, Abraham woke his son and told him to follow. He bid his servants to stay and wait while Isaac and he traveled a little further and made an altar to worship God. He then assured his servants that he and Isaac would return.
Slowly, Isaac and Abraham ascended the mountain. At one point Isaac asked his father where was the sacrificial lamb. Abraham with quiet assurance told his son that God would provide.
Finally, they reached the top. The end of their traveling had approached. With heavy heart Abraham began to construct the altar. First he cleared a space, then he began to lay stone upon stone. Confident in his fathers abilities and certain of his fathers relationship with God, Isaac assisted his father.
There was not a shred of doubt in either man. They quickly and easily constructed the altar. Next came the wood. They stacked it around the altar and on top. Then they were done.
Isaac looked at his father. “The sacrifice?” his eyes asked.
Taking a deep breath Abraham told his son, “you are the sacrifice.”
Isaac obedient to his father, allowed his hands to be tied then he laid on the altar. Abraham picked up the knife and slowly raised it. As he began to plunge the knife down his had was staid.
“Enough!” said the Lord. “You have proved your worthiness and your faith.”
Suddenly a goat bleated in the thicket behind Abraham. Quickly, he loosened the binds on his son and turned to grab the goat. God had indeed provided the sacrifice.
This final test of Abrahams shows us true faith. Abrahams life shows that though we may fail at times in our obedience to God, we can achieve victory. Abraham shows us how:
First we must always listen to God.
Second we must recognize that God keeps his promises.
Third we must relinquish all that we have to God.
Finally, we must allow God to provide.
The story of Abraham and Isaac, is also the story of God and His Son. While Jesus was tried and tortured do you not think that God wrestled with His thoughts? While Jesus journeyed to Calvary with the cross across his shoulders do you not think that God wanted to lift the heavy burden and carry it Himself? And when the guards nailed His Son’s hands to the cross, do you not think that God wanted to stop the plunge of the hammer as it descended time after time?
God loved His son just as much as Abraham loved Isaac. As much as Abraham wanted to grab his son and run away from Mount Moriah, so God wanted to take His Son away from Mount Calvary. As much as Abraham was loathed to sacrifice his son, so God wanted to let His Son live.
Abraham and Isaac walked back down Mount Moriah together assured of God’s love and willingness to provide. They entered camp together to join their servants and headed home.
Abraham and Sarah had more children. Isaac became the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. Today, the promise of God to Abraham has been fulfilled. He was indeed the father of a great nation. His descendants are as numerous as the stars in heaven.
In closing I must ask not only the fathers, but everybody here: How is your faith? Will it stand the test of time?
