LEFTOVERS
Are They Being Wasted?
~ He is the God Who salvages all things and allows nothing to go to waste ~
January 18th, 2023
the PRICE of PROMISE
Genesis 22:7-10, ‘As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father, Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and the wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.’ (NIV)
I wonder what this had to have been like. I try to fathom it, and I cannot.
Isaac is the son who came at a great age, birthed from a great promise, and now, is to be the offering of a great sacrifice. Wouldn’t you demand an answer: wasn’t he born for something greater than this? If I am his parent, I imagine, like laundry in a washer, a thousand thoughts spinning in my mind. Why did You give him to me if You only did so to take him away? What am I to tell Sarah? She thought we went on a camping trip—I return without the boy and what am I to say? You know the child we waited for, prayed for, almost divorced over? Well, um, the God Who gave him to us also asked me to give him back to Him. So I did. Is that how it was for Abraham? That is how it would be for me, I presume.
And Isaac was old enough to know better. He was old enough to walk a great distance for several days, big enough to carry the firestarter for the burnt offering, had been around long enough to be a witness to past burnt offerings and understand the process. I wonder what thoughts, questions and doubts might have been tumbling in the boy’s mind, I imagine, like clothing in the dryer. There is no dialogue to describe the scene, but I can only picture the terron in his eyes, the fear on his face, the letdownness in his heart. How do you forgive something like that? Unsee something like the knife raised above your head and your bound arms and legs unable to save yourself, from your dad even; unfeel being offered as an unaware sacrifice by a willing and obedient father, something likely impossible to comprehend. We don’t know the content of the ensuing conversation between father and son as they wander back, gratefully toward home, but wouldn’t that require an extreme amount of forgiveness and trust and hope?
Genesis 22:12, “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” Abraham looked up and there in the thicket, he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.’ (NIV)
There are leftovers all over this. I imagine what I would do if they were mine. I am so thankful Abraham and Isaac are nothing like me, that they were obedient and trusting and hopeful, and they allowed nothing that God asked of them to be wasted and discarded, but rather, used for God’s purpose, promise and plan.
I am so grateful that God is nothing like me. He gave His only Son too, sacrificed Him on an altar built of my negligence and insolence, burning fiery hot by my disobedience and rebellion. He allowed His Son’s hands and feet to be bound, permitted the spear to pierce His side. He gave His only Son as the atonement for all my failures and shame. That’s because He was the Lamb the Father provided for the burnt offering for me. His loss was my gain. And yours.
John 6:12-13, ‘When the people had eaten their fill, He said to His disciples, “Gather the LEFTOVERS so nothing is wasted.” They went to work and filled twelve large baskets with LEFTOVERS from the barley loaves.’ (MSG)
