SOUL’d OUT
October 25th, 2023
Psalm 18:19, ‘He stood me up in a wide-open field. I stood there saved; surprised to be loved!’ (MSG)
TRUST ME
John 3:16a, ‘For here is the way God loved the world—He gave His only, unique Son as a gift.’
Have you ever had something awaken you from a deep sleep, making it impossible to find rest for the remainder of the night? Maybe you awoke from a nightmare, or even a dream that didn’t quite make sense and the puzzlement of it poked holes in the dark. Perhaps your child or spouse awakened in the odd hours of night feeling ill or sad and needed your attention—or affection. Even worse is the jangle of the phone in the middle of the night, in the middle of your sleep, and in the middle of the panic ensuing from the call, you found it impossible to sleep again.
Have you ever had the Lord awaken you and the word He pressed into you played over and over in your soul, chasing rest far from you? Maybe peace enveloped you like a blanket as you pulled Him close, or rather, perhaps what He impressed upon you caused distress and unrest as He wrestled to get your attention—and affection. No matter—you knew after, He wanted to talk with you, relay something to you, ask something of you, give you instruction needing only the focus you can give in the silence of the night.
I know a guy who likely didn’t sleep much—and probably not for days—after receiving a visit from the Lord. I mean, how could he have just rolled over and gone back to sleep? In Genesis 22, we read, ‘Some time later, God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”’ (v.1-2) Can you even imagine? Did he startle awake, sit up in bed and look around the room, alight with the brilliance of Almighty God, and say, “Huh? Come again, God?” Did he demand, “You mean the son for which I waited a hundred years? The one You promised for whom I hoped for my entire life, the one You just gave? You’re going to take him away from me now? Why did You give him in the first place then, God?” Did he say, “Who? me?” while dread filled him, knowing he was the only one present in the middle of the room in the middle of the night with an only son named Isaac.
I can’t imagine he slept any night following this encounter, but the Bible doesn’t say Abraham questioned God at all. Instead, it says he arose early the next morning and saw to the preparations for the excursion as God directed him. Obediently, he packed up the mule and the kid and set out for the land where God had told him to go. I thought there would be fear within Abraham, but the chapter says, ‘On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance (v.4).’ It continues, saying he and the boy were preparing to worship. He also told his servant they would return after worshipping (v.5). Wait! I am confused. God has directed Abraham to go to a certain place, and there, he is to sacrifice his only and beloved son as an offering. Now, that is soul’d out. The trust! The obedience!
Genesis 22:6-10, ‘Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. 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 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 must admit this would not have been our outcome, me and my son. That’s likely why I assume Abraham has sleepless nights following an encounter with God in the middle of the night. I can imagine the wrestling match and the struggle and the defiant discussion. That’s probably why God doesn’t give me great assignments that result in milk-rich and honey-ripe lands, nor descendants so numerous they match the sand on the seashore. I tremble when I imagine Abraham making the preparations for the journey, not really needing to pack up many provisions because he knows Who will provide. I hurt when I picture the wide-eyed look of innocence on the face of Isaac as he peers around him, in search of the sacrifice that will soon entertain the altar to God. I mean, Isaac is mature enough to understand. Even though the Bible doesn’t give his age away, we know he is old and big enough to walk and carry the wood for the fire. He is mature enough to understand sacrifices because he asks his dad where the lamb is for the burnt offering. I wonder if his trust faltered as his dad bound him and placed him where the lamb should have been, the one Isaac had just sought. I weep as I ponder how the rest of the story ends. Because I hear the instruction from a Holy God to a faithful servant, and the immediate and evident obedience melding with the understanding and trustworthiness from Father to son (God to Abraham) and father to son (Abraham to Isaac) and son to father (Isaac to Abraham) and son to Father (Abraham to God). Soul’d out. He never questioned, Abraham didn’t. He prepared his only and much-loved son to be the offering to the Father as He had requested. He was willing. But he also wasn’t surprised when he heard the angel speak and when he looked over his shoulder to find the ram—an acceptable sacrifice—caught in the brush. See, that’s why he could tell his servant that he and Isaac were going to worship, and once finished worshipping, they would return. He knew intimately—and trusted—the God Who provides.
Genesis 22:11-13, ‘But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. “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 a thicket, he saw a ram caught by his horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.’ (NIV)
But it doesn’t stop there. There is another Father Who gave His only Son Whom He loved, and He sacrificed Him as an offering at a designated place He provided (the Cross), for a designated purpose He provided (to save humanity). There wasn’t a ram caught in the thicket on this day. There is a Father Who was willing, willing to turn His back on His only Son—because a Holy God cannot look upon sin—while the Son takes all the sin of mankind and heaps it on His own shoulders. He did so, that eternity could be a gift from a loving Father to the humanity He loved so much. Full circle. Soul’d out.
(To be continued…)
Psalms 42:11, ‘Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul? Why are you crying the blues? Fix my eyes on God—soon I’ll be praising again. He puts a smile on my face. He is my God.’ (MSG)
