homeschooled By GOD – Lesson Thirteen: It’s in the Offering
Lessons Learned in the Classroom of Life
new YEAR, new YOU
January 31st, 2022
Psalm 40:1-3, ‘I waited and waited, and waited some more, for God. At last, He looked; finally, He listened. He lifted me out of the ditch (the slimy pit), pulled me from deep mud. He stood me on a solid rock to make sure I wouldn’t slip. He taught me how to sing the latest God-song, a praise-song to our God. More and more people are seeing this: they enter the mystery, abandoning themselves to God.’
LESSON THIRTEEN: It’s in the Offering
Romans 12:1-2, ‘So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.’ (MSG)
Abraham trudged up the mountain in the direction of the thicket; Isaac ambling behind him. Every so often, he heard the crack of a stick beneath his son’s sandals, and stones tossed lazily from Isaac’s fist, occasionally would plummet near his footfall. His son whistled under his breath, passing time without a care in the world. Abraham sighed to himself. How was he to manage?
An image of a fattened calf slain and laid out over a bed of hot coals made him gasp. The burnt offering required by a Holy God. He simply could not sacrifice his beloved son! In fact, who would ever sacrifice a son you’d longed for your entire life? Then when you were finally gifted him, would you turn around and sacrifice him? What was he thinking? Why would he even consider this exercise? Except…a glimpse of a Holy God flashed in front of his eyes, and he heard a memory of a promise. To him, would be the descendants numbered as many as the sand on the shore or the stars in the sky. But…Abraham called his son to him and motioned for him to hold his arms out, on which he stacked pieces of wood and rubble for the fire. They were close now.
‘Father?’ Isaac piped up, ‘we have the wood and the fire, everything we need for the sacrifice, but the sacrifice itself? What are we to do, Father?’
Abraham thought aloud, ‘Our God Himself will provide the sacrifice, son. Come now.’ With every step he took, another chunk of his heart broke off. This is the son he had prayed for, for whom Sarah had ached. Why would God take what He alone provided? Abraham formed the altar and carefully arranged the wood, buying time.
‘Isaac,’ he commanded, and obediently, his son walked to him. Binding his son like a lamb led to slaughter, he avoided Isaac’s gaze. ‘Father?’ Isaac questioned him, as obediently, Abraham carried his son to the altar, laying him atop the wood. ‘Father?’ Abraham lifted his gaze to heaven and cried out. Averting his eyes, he raised the knife high in the air, the sound of obedience being the loudest silence he had ever heard. Just then, a noise disturbed the resounding quiet as a young ram wrestled with a tree it had gotten caught in. Realizing he was holding his breath, Abraham exhaled, ‘Our God will surely provide,’ he whispered as he set his son on the ground and wrestled the ram.
The Professor brushed His hands together, particles of wood and rubble dusting the air; His aura smelled of campfire, wood, of burnt offering. He wandered slowly toward me, my private area for homeschooling and lessons situated toward the back of life. He knelt before me, looked me directly in the eye. ‘Your turn?’ Boldly, I glared back; I challenged.
‘How would it possibly be okay to expect him to sacrifice his son; I mean, who would do that, sacrifice his son? And for what? Furthermore, what son would do that?’ I argued. ‘Be willing to be obedient to a father who designated him to be the lamb meant for a burnt offering, the sacrifice offered up to atone for the wrongs it was designed to cover? Who would do that, and why?’ I demanded.
The Professor turned His back to me as He walked to the chalkboard of life—the one where all my mistakes magically had been erased and no longer glared back at me. It was really difficult to hear Him. I strained.
‘I would, child. I did. Because I love you,’ He whispered, stretching His arms wide, He demonstrated all He had sacrificed for me.
