One night, in the comfy haze between sleep and sight
God spoke to my heart.
He said, “Daughter, take the one you love most
And sacrifice him to me.”
The words reached deep inside and grasped long fingers around locked treasure trunks of things I planned to keep for always,
pulling at the lids, grieving the hinges.
The request was super difficult,
Because if you pay good attention to verbs like I do, you know
That “sacrifice” goes where “give” refuses to go.
When Abraham and Isaac were walking up the mountain so long ago,
“Give” would have stood the young son on a big rock, had him wave up at the heavens and then head back down the hill towards home for lunch with the fam.
“Sacrifice” had the cherished heir bound and strapped to the kindling on an altar, with his father’s knife raised overhead.
Before he ever put his son on that altar, I’ll bet Abraham made some seriously painful sacrifices.
Disobedience went on the fire first, followed quickly by Unbelief and Pride.
One by one, the things that hindered Abraham from trusting God above all else were burned to ashes.
What remained was a deep seated conviction that Jehovah is a Provider.
Every step up the hill, every length of binding cord, was driven by that truth.
I know how Abraham’s story ended.
Mine? Not so much.
No sheep at my doorstep,
but I’ve released control over the one I love most – and all he represents to me – into God’s hands.
I can almost tangibly feel Fear giving way to the altar’s flames.
And I know,
that somewhere, in that cloud of witnesses Hebrews talks about,
Abraham stands.
And I think he’d still agree,
That Jehovah is a Provider.
Beautifully written. I wonder if you've considered blogging with a group like inCourage or Deeper Story. I don't know how to get into something like that, but it seems like your work would appeal to a wider audience.
ReplyDelete