The trip was long. Long enough to think; long enough to remember; and yet it could never truly be long enough. With each step, the man thought of the destination. As they followed the path, now moving upward, he was unsure of many things: why here? Why now? Why him? The answers to these questions were not promised, nor were they offered. But despite the circumstances, he would be obedient; he would be faithful; he would trust the promise.
The place where they were going now came into view. It had been three days. The servants must stay with the animal. This final part of the journey will be taken only by himself and the boy. He tells them, “stay with the donkey while the boy and I go over there. We will worship, and then we will come back to you.” Yes, somehow, WE will come back. He would trust the promise.
Genesis 22:6-14
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 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. 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 its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
In Romans 12:1-2 Paul writes,
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
When Isaac got up from the altar, he literally became our first example of a living sacrifice. And just as Abraham had told his son, God Himself did provide the lamb, in the form of HIS only Son, whom He did not withhold when Jesus bled and died to literally take away the sins of the world. The journey of this sacrifice was also three days. And on the third day, HE became the perfect, living sacrifice, rising from the dead, bearing in His body the scars of crucifixion, and becoming our high priest, and our advocate before the very throne of God!
There is a lot of talk today about what makes “good worship.” And we could spend a lot of time talking about music and teaching styles and lighting and sound and drama and the color of carpeting, but the single greatest contributor to great corporate worship is great PERSONAL WORSHIP.
Worship was never intended to be limited to an event. Worship is meant to be the very lives we lead, and events like those that happen on Sunday mornings at church buildings are intended to be born out of the overflow of the rest of our lives! If you are relying on a worship gathering to fuel the rest of your week, you will always run dry, because this was never meant to be your primary expression of worship.
Give Him your "everyday," and see what happens!
In Him We Live,
Jeff
