Rescued by the Hand of God...

One of the things that disturbs me the most about Abraham's story is the point when he goes to the mountain to sacrifice Isaac.  

As a parent, this is the most excruciating thought I have...to suffer the loss of a child.  And to think that God actually asks Abraham to go and perform this sacrifice...to kill his son with his own hand...the thought just makes my stomach turn...these are the points in God's story when I honestly want to walk away from the Bible.  These are the stories that make me want to walk away from God...who is this Father that could ask that from one of His children?...what Father could ask for that kind of sacrifice?

But God didn't actually allow the sacrifice to happen.  The sacrifice was stopped before Isaac lost his life.  Isaac was rescued by the hand of God.

However, the sacrifice didn't stop before Jesus gave his life.

God is the kind of Father who understands sacrifice.  

He is the kind of Father who sacrificed His own son...death wasn't prevented when God's son went to the mountaintop.  God allowed His son to take my sin, your sin, and the sin of the world.  We have been rescued by the hand of God.  That's sacrificial love...that's the kind of Father we have.

And that's how I reconcile with Abraham's story.  That's how I keep reading the Bible... I know the ending and the sacrifice is complete.

It's so much easier to have faith in that kind of Father.  To trust the kind of Father who has given everything for me.  

LORD, give me the faith of Abraham...allow me to trust you and know you are good and to fully understand and remember how You rescued me.

Are there unreasonable things God is asking of you?  

How are you walking through it?

How's your faith feeling at this point in the journey?