"He [the LORD] said, 'Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah,

and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you'." (Genesis 22:2).

journey from Ur had been life-changing enough, from urban to nomadic-life with an aging father. After the death of his father Terah at Haran, the journey without a known destination continued the challenge to his faith (Heb.11:8).

But, the Lord (blessed be His name!) had met with Abraham in assurance and encouragement, and in his old age he had believed God beyond the horizon of his understanding.

now...!

After the birth of his precious promised son, after coming to know him, and bonding to him as any father could have wanted – of the son whom he so loved, he was now instructed by the God who had given this precious gift, not only to give him up, but to offering him as a burnt offering.
His mind revolted at the impossibility of the thought, and the apparent injustice of it all!

How could this be expected of him? Why?

the faith of Abraham is opened up in the first book of our Bible to illustrate to us the never-changing principles of God's way with us in this world, which apply at all times in every place. For this reason our New Testament calls this Abraham "the father of us all".

So, why would God put this terrible trauma on Abraham – of killing his own son and burning him as a sacrifice to God?

Some say that it was to test Abraham, as though God needed to find out something which He did not previously know concerning Abraham. But this is certainly not true, for it contradicts the character of God who knows all things about everything.

that climactic moment under the stars with God's promise, which had so defined his subsequent relationship to the Most Holy ("He counted it to him as righteousness"), his faith had lifted beyond the horizon of his own understanding. In that moment he had pinned his faith on God Himself, and on God alone.

Abraham still remained human, and therefore the natural tendency was for his faith to gravitate from God Himself to the promise of God (as represented in Isaac).

Objectifying faith, by moving it from the person (in terms of their character) toward faith in the specifics of promises or actions, is very natural, but it places a definition on that faith which is a limitation.

Abraham's case this would have inhibited him from a future beyond his understanding, which was to be in God's hands alone. This principle applies to us equally today, especially when the Word of God is presented simply as a collection of divine promises to believe.

Abraham's faith in God was represented in his precious son – the impossible birth. Isaac was now the horizon of his faith. For the sake of the future which God had planned for him, Abraham's faith needed to be wrenched free from the known, and again focused beyond the horizon of his understanding.

The pain which Abraham carried alone within him, from Beersheba to Moriah, he could share with no one. As hidden as the heart-breaking purpose of his journey was from Isaac, his offering, it was also hidden from the boy's mother; she who had borne this child-of-promise. Abraham bore it alone!

Isaac said to his father Abraham, 'My father!'
            And he said, 'Here am I, my son'.
He said, 'Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?'
            Abraham said, 'God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son'.

subsequent shock of that discovery for Isaac redefined his view of God, who is thereafter referred to as the 'Fear of Isaac' (Gen.31:42,53).

This enlarged reverential-view of God became an important factor in the legacy of faith-beyond-understanding which laid the foundation for a unique work of God in human history – utterly unparalleled!

same spiritual principle, carried in Abraham's three-days-of-pain, is exemplified again for our understanding in God's treatment of righteous Job in the valley of Uz (southern Jordan); a man of whom God said "there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man" (1:8).

having had everything which God had given him torn away without explanation, and his godfearing believing-friends accuse him of having hidden-sin, in their sincere attempt to find a theological explanation for what God had allowed to happen to Job (The man of whom God said later to the senior of these friends, 'you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has'), Job now comes into a trust relationship to God fully beyond his comprehension, beyond his intellectual reach.

climax of Job's agonising pilgrimage-of-pain comes in his response to God's challenge to his understanding (38-41), for which he had so sincerely wanted answers:

but now my eye sees You; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes'."
[Repenting of wanting-an-explanation for what God had inexplicably allowed to come upon him].

available evidences, it appears that this lesson of Job gave to us the very first written book of Holy Scripture, probably via Jethro of Midian to Moses.

So, in both the book of 'Job' and in 'Genesis', this primary lesson, concerning the human relationship to a sovereign and infinite Creator, is that – the only appropriate attitude toward Him is to trust Him beyond understanding. Less than this is disrespectful!

May the Lord of Glory so bless you also for the sake of your own future!