July 1 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Genesis 22:1-14

¹And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
²And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
³And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
⁴Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
⁵And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
⁶And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
⁷And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
⁸And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
⁹And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
¹⁰And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
¹¹And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
¹²And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
¹³And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
¹⁴And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.

Devotional

Abraham loved God. His love for God is seen from the time He first heard God's call to leave family and homeland and go into a far-away country, not knowing where. His love is evidenced through the long years of wandering. Abraham was a friend of God.

Abraham loved Isaac. Who does not love his own child, his flesh and blood? Especially, it might seem, does the parent who has been long childless, dote upon the child who finally is born. What if that child were born in fulfilment of a promise of God! What if that child were born when the father was one hundred years old and the mother ninety? Indeed, Abraham loved Isaac!

That dual love is what makes this scene on the mountain in the land of Moriah one of the most dramatic and tense in the whole range of historical literature! The eyes and sympathy of all readers rest with this father, knife in hand, and all wait for the impossible decision.

But Abraham's priorities were straight. His faith in God, proven in the past, did not waver now. If God demanded the sacrifice of his son, that he would make. His love for God, his trust in God, were unfaltering!

What was Abraham thinking? He may have been thinking, God will not let me do this. After all, He promised me a family in which all the nations would be blessed. He GAVE this son to me in fulfilment of that promise. Maybe He will intervene. Maybe He will raise this child from the dead. I do not know. I just know that He has commanded me to do this thing. So I will do it.

What an object lesson this is for us! God so loved that He, too, gave His Son. How great is our love for God? Is it greater than our love for our children? If He wants them in Africa, is that all right with us? If we have to make the choice, will our choice be to serve our God or our children?

Jesus said, 'He that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me' (Matthew 10:37).