Got Vater Sprach zu Abraham
God may ask you to sacrifice good things- even things you love- so that you can love Him; a reflection on Genesis 22
Imagine losing your most beloved thing. Imagine that God asks you to destroy it with your own hands. He asks this for His own glory; could you do it? Would you do it? Abraham was faced with the very choice in Genesis. For years I’ve struggled with the story of Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22. I still don’t fully understand why God ordered Abraham to kill his son, an act that seems blatantly evil. I don’t see how that was a just test of Abraham- yet, God knows more than me.
I still find the passage worth much reflection. Recently, I’ve been asked to give up some of my most beloved things. I won’t dive in too deep personally, but my life is changing drastically right now and some of the sacrifices piling up on the proverbial altar are good things. Others are bad. All of them are things which are obstacles to my path to knowing and loving God.
Sometimes your beloved firstborn is a pet sin. This might be as simple as something you tell yourself isn’t a big deal, a venial sin you’ve let slide for years. It could be as big as an addiction you’ve been harboring because it’s your comfort, a dark corner you run into to hide, to numb yourself. You will be asked to burn that on the altar.
It’s no wonder that the sins you’re fond of can and should go at any time. It’s obvious God calls you to root out sins and work against temptation at all times. It makes sense to eliminate evil. But the less obvious, more bewildering element of Genesis 22 which I’ve felt lately is the sacrifice of good things.
Good things can stand in the way of your path. I think back to earlier in Abraham’s life, when he’s called to leave his father’s tent with all its comforts to go on an arduous, yet confusing journey following the Lord. It’s good to live in comfort with your family. It’s good to enjoy abundance.
Sometimes, that is precisely what a man must leave to advance. Comfort can kill. It can desensitize you to your dependence on God and distract you with enjoyments which, while they may be good in themselves, lull you into complacence. You stop striving to follow God, because you’re relaxing in the tent.
This is where I think God asks you to sacrifice your Isaac. He’s not going to take good things from you permanently- indeed, the aim is to grant you the good- but in order for you to follow Him and attain those goods in the proper measure at the proper time, God might ask you to put them down.
When you follow God through this, you show, as Abraham did, that you trust Him. That you value what God asks above what ‘makes sense’. This may call for ending a good living arrangement, leaving a good job, shaking up relationships; while none of these things are bad, and many may be quite good, they may ultimately hinder your journey of discovering God.
You have to leave the tent of comfort and venture where He calls. You have to sacrifice those things dearest to your heart until only God remains dearest.
This is where the fear kicks in. God knows how daunting this is for us. “Do not be afraid” and various iterations of the phrase appear over a hundred times in the Bible. When you’re trying to take a leap of faith, to make a daring step toward loving God more fully, fear is often the Evil One whispering in your ear reminding you how comfortable you were. The Devil wants you to stay in the tent. He wants you to hold to your pet sins and cling to your goods in fear that you’ll lose them, because there you’re in no danger of bravely loving the Lord.
Understand that it will be scary- imagine the fear and conflict Abraham felt as he scaled the mountain with his son Isaac, the very knife set to take his son’s life belted to his waist. Yet, he climbed. So must you, so must I.
God doesn’t demand your flesh and blood in sacrifice (not like Moloch, who gets plenty of that these days). He gave his own flesh and blood for you. He demands only the subordination, and yes, sometimes the sacrifice, of things you love so that you love Him the most. Whether that thing is bad or good.
The consolation in Genesis 22 is that in the end, it is all too likely that God will return your sacrifice and more. Any good thing you sacrifice for the Lord, He will see and repay you in this life or the next. You may not get it back before you die. You may suffer. But if that is your journey to loving and obeying God, then you have to undertake it.
To close on a lighter, if no less meditative note, I’ll include a personal note here on a beautiful Medieval song: Got Vater Sprach zu Abraham. This song is what has kept the story in Genesis 22 on my mind so much over the last few years. It is a stirring re-telling of Genesis 22 which I can only assume was sung in the firelight. This rendition by Michael Posch brings the story a mystic, ancient air. You feel the gravity in his voice, the seriousness of the contents, and the beauty of centuries of tradition. The lyrics are in Middle High German, and I’ve been unable to find a translation online; if you know the language or know the lyrics, do please share: