Genesis 22:1-18; Hebrews 11:23-31; John 6:52-59
The story of the near-sacrifice of Isaac has always been a text that has confounded the faithful. We wonder why God would ask Abraham to prepare his son, this promised child of Sarah that they waited so long for, to be sacrificed as a burnt offering? It seems nothing less than cruel and heartless on God’s side of things. But, as people of faith, we don’t stop at Genesis 22:6 where Abraham laid the wood for the fire on top of his child. We continue on, seeing that God had another plan all along. Abraham didn’t know what that plan was in the moment, but he trusted that the God who brought him and his family all the way from Ur to this new land would be the same One who would fulfill the promise that he would be the father of many nations. Abraham said to his son Isaac, who wondered where the lamb for the sacrifice would come from, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”
This lamb would not come for thousands of years, but he would come indeed. Jesus Christ was that Lamb of God!
Prayer: Holy God, help us to trust that you have all things under control and that we need only respond in faithfulness and obedience to your holy will. Amen.
Today’s devotion was written by the Rev. Dr. Amy C. Little, Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Monroeville, Ohio.
