Transforming Trials

Lent 1

Genesis 22:1-18

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Rev. Michael A. Trask

When you think about it, life in this broken world has always been a mixture of good times and bad times. We do our best to put in our order for a life that is only good, we study, we prepare for every contingency, but we cannot fully insulate ourselves from trouble. There are days when I think I agree with Job who once said; “Man is born of woman, is a of few days and full of trouble.” (Job 14)

Those are some words you’ll never see on a motivational poster. But they’re true! The economy goes south and we find our savings cut in half. We get sick, we get old, we get injured. Our loved ones die. One day we too will die. All of us face trials in life. But at the same time, the one thing that we hear over and over again from our Lord is that he can and does transform these trials into something wonderful and magnificent for us.

In the epistle lesson for today James says “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial” (James 1:12). Then the Old Testament Testament Lesson for today has that astoundingly challenging trial that God gave to Abraham to sacrifice his own son, and then the Gospel tells us of the trial that Jesus endured as he was directly tempted by Satan himself. Today’s readings are full of trials! And in each case something wonderful and magnificent is the result. But then there’s the other side, on the cover of your bulletin, you see a frightened Adam and Eve leaving paradise an example of those who did not persevere. It’s all about trials today.

And not only today, but during your whole life. The defining moments of life are not the easy times, or the fun times, or the happy times, but rather the times of trial when you are stretched to the limit and put to the test. My text is that well know trial or test of Abraham which is recorded in Genesis 22:1-18.

To get the full force of it, we’ve got to back up a bit and recall how Abraham got his start with the Lord. God came to Abraham and told him to leave his homeland, his flocks and his fields, to leave his family and travel hundreds of miles to the land of Palestine which he would be given. Abraham believed and went

Originally, God promised Abraham three things. First, there was Family. God promised Abraham that he would have a great father, that he would be the father of a nation that had as many people as the stars in the sky.

Second there was Land. God promised him a land that was rich with cattle and camels and fertile field with fine fruit trees.

Third, was God’s presence. Abraham was promised that God would be with him and bless him. Abraham believed and went where God told him to go

And God set about the fulfilling of those promises. He brought him to the land. He met his wife Sarah, Abraham loved Sarah and Sarah loved Abraham. They had many years together. But After many years together they realized they were well past the age of having children. Yet, God had promised that Abraham would be the father of a great nation. And so it happened. Sarah laughed in disbelief when she was told it would happen, but as her belly swelled she would be laughing for a different reason. They appropriately enough named their child “Isaac” which means “He laughs”.

This boy brought no small amount of joy to their household. He was the last piece in the puzzle. He was what they had been waiting for for all those years. But it was at this point that the Lord saw that a problem was developing. Father Abraham and Mother Sarah seemed to be more preoccupied with Isaac than with the Lord himself. When they looked at Isaac they were tempted to see in him their future, their joy, their meaning and their purpose. Do you see how wrong that is? Where is our future, true joy, meaning and purpose found? Only in the Lord of course! As our creator, he created our meaning and purpose. As our redeemer, he has secured the future for us. As our Savior, he has promised joy that will never perish spoil or fade. Indeed, Isaac was God’s gift to them, but he was not God and he never could be.

At this point in the story, I’d like to pause for just a moment. Might I ask what your Isaac might be? Is there something that you look to as your future, your joy, your meaning and your purpose? Is it your kids? Your spouse? Your family? Is it your 401k, your job, your house, your lake cabin? You’re coming retirement where you imagine everything will be wonderful and the blue bird of happiness will flit around your head? What’s your Isaac? Or to put it another way: upon what have you centered your life? Now hold that thought for awhile and we’ll come back to it.

“Some time later god tested Abraham” That’s what the text says. And He knew just what to say to get to the heart of the matter: He said “Take your Son, your only Son, Isaac, whom love, and sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Oh this surely was a test; a test that would be most clarifying.

The next morning, Abraham got up early, probably spent a sleepless night as he thought about the road the lay ahead. When he finished loading the donkey up with wood, he, two servants and his beloved Son Isaac, started out on their journey to the region of Moriah. Though it was nearly a three day walk to their destination, I’m sure the days went all too quickly as time tends to do when something dreadful awaits.

As they drew near to the mountain that God showed Abraham, he told the servants to wait. Abraham took the wood from the donkey and placed it on his Son while he carried the knife and the bowl of fire. Together they walked up the hill. It might be hard to know what Abraham was thinking about as looked over and saw his little boy carrying the wood he was about to die on. But I think we can have some, since we’ve all found ourselves in situations of personal distress when everything we’ve ever thought was true and right and good was called into question and we are shaken to our very core. “Where’s the lamb father, where’s the lamb? ” The sweet young voice of his son interrupted “God will provide the lamb my Son.” God will provide, yes he will.

Abraham built an altar out of stone and placed the wood on it. He took rope, tied up his son, placed him on the altar, Raised the knife and prepared to plunge it in. Just then the Angel of the Lord called out “ABRAHAM” “Do not lay a hand on the boy.” And what he said next is the key to the whole thing. He said “Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your Son, your only Son.”

This was indeed a clarifying moment of great significance! Isaac was not his future, God was his future! Isaac was not his hope, God was his hope! Isaac was not his meaning and purpose, God was his meaning and purpose! This was of great moment! The Father of of our Faith, Father Abraham was given a critical test and he passed with flying colors. He knew that somehow the Lord would make it all work out. The book of Hebrews clues us in. “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac....but he considered that God was able to raise him from the dead,.” (Heb. 11:17-19) So as he and his Son came down from that hill Abraham’s spirit was buoyed. His faith was strengthened and he got to keep his son! God didn’t want Isaac to be sacrificed. Isaac was never really on the table, what was on the table was Abraham’s faith. From Abraham’s perspective, the temptation was to think that all that really mattered was Isaac, but what was clarified that day was that while Isaac did matter, The Lord mattered more.

But let’s get back to your Isaac. What is it again? Your children, your spouse? Your job? Your money? Your possessions? What is that you have hitched your future to? What is that you have thought will give you meaning and purpose and joy? What is it that matters most to you? Isaac or God? A choice must be made in your life in every day and in every way. And all the stuff that’s been happening lately is just bringing this question to a head. Come now answer please: Isaac or God?

Let me tell you why you gotta go with God. This Story of Abraham and Isaac would be repeated in the life of Christ. God said “Take my Son, my only Son Jesus whom I love, and sacrifice him there on the mountain.” ...Many scholars believe that it happened at the same place. John the Baptist would answer Isaac’s ancient question when he said, “Behold the Lamb of God! and pointed to Jesus. This was the was the lamb that Abraham said the Lord would provide. He would go up the mountain carrying the wood upon which he would die. But here is were the story is different, Instead of the voice from heaven saying “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” heaven was silent as many hands were raised to wound him. There, the only Son of God , the beloved Son of God died.

At that mountain, God was put to the test. A critical and clarifying question was being asked: What matters most to you God? Your beloved Son? Or the people you created? And the answer is most clear: the people. Us. You. God Loves You. He loved you first. And now he asks you to love him in return. He chose you first and now he asks you to chose him in return. And what trials you might face are your opportunity to do just that.

Yes. You will face trials. And you will be asked to make some choices in the coming weeks and months and years. Sometimes you might even feel like your whole world is being turned inside out but remember the choice that has already been made, the choice that God has made in your favor. And you like Abraham, you will come down from the mount of testing lifted up. And whatever it is you thought you lost will be returned to you or you will have something better in it’s place. That’s the Lord. AMEN