Day 6 -- Genesis 20-23

In our reading it says that "God tested Abraham. He said to him, 'Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.' He 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 that I shall show you'" (Genesis 22:1-2).
This is an awful story. There is no way around it. If we are not shocked by it, then there is something seriously wrong with us. But awful as it is, the sacrifice of Isaac is still the most profound story about the meaning of faith to be found in all the scriptures.
Humanly speaking, this is as good as we humans get.
Child sacrifice was not uncommon in the ancient world; it would have been a practice well known to Abraham. In his time it was the sort of thing gods expected of people. But it was forbidden in the worship of Israel's God, and on one level this story is intended to explain why. The sacrifice of an animal substituted for the death of a human being, created in the image of God.
"Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son."
Whew! That was close! In the end God lets Abraham off the hook.
But Isaac's deliverance does not invalidate Abraham's interior suffering. Abraham's faith is rewarded, but nothing can make up for the agony he goes through on the way.
But then, the final analysis, faith has nothing to do with rewards. That's the deep meaning of this story.
In the scriptures faith, like the faith of Abraham, is the highest form of human life can take. Faith is not civilization. It is not even what most people think of as morality. It is absolute obedience to the only One worthy of that obedience. It is absurd trust--trust without meaning--obedience without limits.
You and I are never going to asked to tested like this--which is good, because we wouldn't pass a test. This kind of odedience is beyond us
So what is the use of telling a story like this? What good is it.
It is there for us to see what real faith in God is like. It is there for us to think about when we feel put upon by the demands of faith. It is there for us to consider when we are tempted to grouse and complain about our own little tests. Then we can look the story of the sacrifice of Isaac and say--This is what real faith in God is like. He hasn't asked anything of me by comparison. Thank God! He has let us all off the hook.
So consider this--God hasn't asked anything of human beings, not even of Abraham, the He Himself was not willing to undertake. So in the end we look past Mount Moriah and to see Golgotha where the cross of Jesus Christ is planted. There the sacrifice went forward and no one let God off the hook. Consider that.

So what is the use of telling a story like this?