Simple Steps Unnoticed

November 17, 2012

“The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, ‘I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

Genesis 22: 15-18

“There is no possibility of questioning when God speaks if he speaks to his own nature in me; prompt obedience is the only result. When Jesus says – “Come,” I simply come. When he says “Let go,” I let go. When he says “Trust in God in this matter,” I do trust. The whole working out is the evidence that the nature of God is in me.”

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

In each of 365 days in the year, there is a new way to apply this Old Testament passage to daily life. In fact, for the last 24 days I have been chewing on it, in parts or in whole, and trying to find a meaning that I have been missing in all of this.

Surely, the point is simple, and perhaps said best by Brad Pitt in Fight Club: The things you own end up owning you. Abraham was obsessed with the proposition of an heir to his self-made kingdom. Intellectually speaking, the custom of the times was to build a generational kingdom, which required having male offspring. He was, as we know, so obsessed with the idea of building this heir on his own that he took his servant to bear a son, Ishmael, instead of waiting for God to provide a son through his wife.

So, the simple moral is: wait on the Lord.

But I think that Chambers is pulling a point out of the story that many of us miss on first reading and, upon reflection of other similar stories based on the concept of “waiting for God,” there is a form of action required in the inaction.

The tribes of Israel had to stand ankle deep in the water of the river Jordan before miraculously crossing the river (Joshua 3:8 - 13). The city of Jericho was taken with patience only after Israel marched around it seven times (Joshua 6: 1-27). And numerous other Old Testament examples of Israel having to do some crazy things in the process of waiting on the Lord to defeat their enemies.

So, from the generic standpoint of this passage, I can be patient and wait on the Lord to provide. I can also take that which I love the most and put it on the alter of sacrifice before God. I can stand true to attest to the promises of God in the waiting.

But as a dear friend of mine said lately, as discussed this topic, “What am I waiting for?”

I believe that in waiting, there are things that I must be doing. Not that my life is then filled with doing, on the assumption that God is waiting for me to prove myself in actions that aren’t required. But there is some level of effort that I must take in order for God to provide me with the promises he has made to me for the patience through obedience he is building in me.

For instance, I desire nothing more of this life than to be married. My future bride is my Isaac, so to speak. But it takes more than abandonment of the idea of her to be “placed on the alter.” If God is calling me to sacrifice this desire, then there are certain things I sense he must also be calling me to do. Sure I can bow down on my knees and lift this desire up to him. But if this desire in me is true, God-given, then He must still build me into the man who will lead my bride, one small step at a time toward the sacrifice. So, the steps that Abraham took to offer Isaac were just as important – if not more important – than the act itself.

Abraham very easily could have said, “OK Isaac lay down I have to take care of something real quick for God.” He didn’t have to lead his son far away from home, to the point servants were needed to bring equipment and supplies. He didn’t have to march step after step up the mountain or search for stones and wood with which to build a temple and fire for the sacrifice.

I try to imagine each step Abraham takes in his obedience to God. First, put your right foot forward. But God, you promised me a son and now you are asking me to kill him? Second, put your left foot forward. Come on God, really? After all this time of waiting, even in my impatience you blessed me and now this? Right foot. Left foot.

Who knows how many steps Abraham took in leading Isaac toward this magnificent act of obedience to God. I think that’s the problem with this story. People look at the final act, the raising of the knife above Abraham’s head, and they miss each excruciating step he took, each painful doubting thought, each racing moment of picturing the life of raising his son and teaching him his ways and customs.

No, it is far easier to simply stand upon the alter and thrust downward than it is to walk those steps.

But obedience is more than just in the final act. Obedience is in every step of the way leading up to the final act.

So, Lord, you are asking me to lay aside the one thing that means the most to you, on the promise that you know what is good and that you will provide for me what is best. Then guide my steps, one foot after another, because you know I do not have the strength to do this on my own. Put peace in my heart, trust in my spirit, that you are who you say you are. My doubts are many. My unbelief grows with each passing step. But guide me Lord, because you have called me to do this…

I am the “two-steps forward, three steps back” kind of guy. I start something with the intention of seeing it through, but find ways and excuses for stopping short. In these things in my life, I make promises to myself that I break, and I have paid the price in shattering my own self-confidence in time.

Which is why I need to focus on the first step up that mountain. Lord, help me put my right foot forward. Maybe in this time he will tell me to stop. But if not… Lord, help me put my left foot forward. And so I must learn to walk in obedience in the little things, uncertain of when the steps will end, if ever, and trusting only in the God who knew me before he formed me, who stretched out his arms and created the universe, whose love is so abounding that in all creation he would love me as much as you – which is no more or less than he loved his own son.

Sure, it’s the bigger picture- the sacrifice – that has to be present in our conscious thought as we move forward. But there is a working out of faith in each step along the way that is the most difficult part for me…