Have you noticed when we grasp onto something we treasure with all our might, our knuckles turn white? It happens metaphorically with any possession that defines us, relationship that completes us, or dreams we've spent years building. But what happens when God asks us to open our hands and let go? Today, on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindahl takes us to one of Scripture's most gut-wrenching moments, when a father faced the ultimate test of faith on a lonely mountain. Through Abraham's story, we'll discover why the Christian life requires us to hold everything loosely.
We're thinking about great stories from the Old Testament in this series. We are. involved in these days. And it seemed one that would be most appropriate for this hour: is the story of the father who. released his son.
And of course, the analogy between This earthly Father who did that, and our Heavenly Father who did that. on the great Christmas morn in its origin, Is undeniable, and you just can't see one without. picturing the other. Really, I think what the greater message in this story is all about is the importance of holding all things loosely. Shortly before her death, Cory Tenboom spent worship hours in our church in Fullerton.
It was always my privilege to see her in our congregation so unassuming. quiet in her own way and uniquely worshipful, I always wrestled a bit with feelings of intimidation. having a woman of that stature and with her vast experience, sitting of all things and my teaching. On occasion she would speak with me quietly as the service had ended.
Now, I will never forget one time when we got on the subject of our children and. During our the growing up years of our little ones, she Often took delight in watching them as they grew. And she said to me, knowing my love for my children and my wife, she said, you know, Pastor Chuck, she said, I have learned in my years that we must always hold things loosely. She said, because The um More we love these ones, the more we tend to hold them tightly. and it will hurt when the Father pries our fingers from them.
and takes them. From us.
Now that most of my family members have grown and left the nest. I know a little bit about what she was referring to, but nothing. like some of you know. who have in fact lost your children. or lost your mate.
There is something very stressful about Holding precious things loosely. only to have them taken, but even more so to hold them tightly. and have them removed from us. While thinking about the importance of holding all things loosely, it occurred to me that there are. two, three, four categories where this is very true.
And I'd like for you, before we look at the story in Genesis 22 for a brief period of time, I'd like for you to think first with me about some of the things that we tend to hold too tightly. First, and in no particular order of importance, we would have to name things. Possessions. All the things that would fall into the category of that which has a price tag. things we purchase.
or things that have been passed down to us. In our family.
Some of the most priceless things in our home are the things that we have received from my wife's parents. And some from even their parents, and a few things from my own family legacy. These things cannot be replaced. They are invaluable, we say. Nevertheless, it is easy for us to become attached.
to things. A.W. Tozer in his days on earth often wrote about the. Um The devastation connected with holding too tightly to things. And in what I consider to be his finest work, The Pursuit of God.
He writes these words regarding the blessedness of possessing nothing. Listen to what he says. Before the Lord God made man upon the earth, He first prepared for him. By creating a world of useful and pleasant things for his sustenance and delight. In the Genesis account of the creation, these are called simply things.
They were made for man's uses, but they were meant. always to be external to the man. and subservient to him. In the deep heart of the man was a shrine. Where none But God was worthy to come.
Within him was God, without A thousand gifts. which God had showered upon him. But, writes Tozer, Sin has introduced complications. And has made those very gifts of God a potential source of ruin. to the soul.
Our woes began when God was forced. out of his central shrine. And things were allowed to enter. Within the human heart, things have taken over. And then he writes, We must in our hearts live through Abraham's harsh and bitter experiences if we would know the blessedness which follows them.
The ancient curse, he warns, will not go out painlessly. The tough old miser within us will not lie down and die obedient to our command. He must be torn out of our hearts. like a plant from the soil. He must be extracted in agony and blood like a tooth from the jaw.
He must be expelled from our soul by violence. as Christ expelled the money changers from the temple. and we shall need to steel ourselves against his piteous begging. And to recognize it as springing out of self-pity, one of the most reprehensible sins of the human heart. Maybe the words are too dramatic for some of you, but I find them enough to get my attention.
I often warn people to remember that when it comes to holding on to things, It's possible that one of us could on some occasion, God forbid, drive home from a church service or back from a wonderful retreat. or back from a romantic and delightful weekend with our mate or an enjoyable time with our friends, only to come to a smoldering pile of ruins. that was once our home. I made that warning several months ago, and I received a letter from a lady of all things who said to me, that's exactly what happened. She said, I, in fact, heard your tape that had been made of the message where you mentioned that, and I thought to myself, ah, that'll never happen.
And yet, I return to my home and I pull down the street, and to my amazement, I saw everything that we had owned.
now in smouldering ruins, And she said, I realized that everything that was important to me was not burnt up in that fire. The memories. the relationships with my family and my friends. the important things in life. had not been burnt up.
When I talk about holding things loosely, I'm talking about things that can burn up in a fire. You can't burn up a memory. You can't burn up a relationship. The second category of holding on to things would certainly be our occupation and our work. You know there isn't a week that passes that somebody doesn't lose their job.
There isn't a week that passes that someone doesn't lose his job or his or her business. And that's not a problem if our image isn't tied up in our work. But difficulties come when somehow we become so enmeshed in our work that the loss of an occupation. becomes the loss of who we are, and that's devastating. A third category after things and occupation would be plans and dreams and long-awaited desires.
Who hasn't suffered through the death of a dream? Who hasn't watched a long-awaited desire fly away?
Something you had planned on and worked for. Keep in mind Those dreams often are taken away. before they are fulfilled. And I warn all of us to hold them loosely. Fourth and most significant of all would be relationships.
and people. Relationships. This includes mates. Parents. Children.
Family members. Friends. Romances that are now flourishing may not continue to flourish. Partnerships that now seem solid and sure. may not remain solid.
Pastors move elsewhere as God leads them. You must always hold the leaders of the church loosely. You do not own us. We work together. We move together.
But we all belong to the same Lord, and as He moves people from congregations, He also moves pastors from one church to another. Roommates move out, neighbors move on. Workmen and women alongside us are called elsewhere. Children are sometimes called home before parents. We must hold all of this loosely.
And that's the lesson that Abraham Had to learn. The story we're looking at in Genesis chapter 22 is not the story about the loss of possessions, something that could be purchased for a price. or the loss of an occupation. Or the loss of a dream, a long-awaited desire. This is the loss of a person, or the potential loss of a person.
And I have to be careful how I say this, lest somebody be offended, but unless you are a parent, You really can't enter into the truth and the full feelings of Genesis 22. You have to be there. as a dad or as a mom. To really feel what Abraham must have felt. You can imagine it.
But being a parent means you can really identify with the feelings. There are a lot of great father-son stories in the scriptures. I don't know if you've thought about that lately. It occurred to me while putting my thoughts together for this that there's the story of Noah and his three sons. Which follows one particular line of thinking.
There's the story of Jacob and his 12 boys, especially his favorite Joseph. And then there's the story of Eli and his sons. It's a study and tragedy. as this priest has boys that he couldn't control. and they became out of control.
In fact, they became a scandal. in the ancient tabernacle. And then there's the unforgettable story of David and his son Absalom. and another son, Solomon. Another interesting study.
And there is in the New Testament the greatest of all stories aside from the coming of Christ. and that is the story of the prodigal son. which I often think of as the wayward lad, and the waiting dad. I often return to the story of the prodigal son in counseling with people who are going through a heartbreaking experience. The lessons to be learned from the prodigal son are, it seems, unending.
But this is the story of a father. An old and aging father whose delight of his life is his boy. And it's the story of his releasing his boy. in the mystery of God's will. to be taken from him.
There's a command to be obeyed at the beginning of Genesis 22, and you can read it along with me. Just follow along. It came about after these things that God tested Abraham. And said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am. He said, Take now your son.
Your only son, whom you love. Isaac. And go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you. You know, familiarity not only breeds contempt, it breeds boredom. And you read verses like this, and you don't really enter into the feelings of them unless you stop and meditate for a few moments.
Put yourself in the shoes of a hundred plus year old father. whose long-awaited boy has been born. And whose most delightful memories have to do with the time spent with your boy, Isaac.
So, you understand what it means when it says God tested Abraham. There are a number of ways the writer of the Genesis 22 passage could have written tested, and he chose the most intense of all the Hebrew stems in the verbs. He intensely tested Abraham. He put him through an extremely difficult test. In many ways, it would have been easier if God had just taken Isaac from him.
But he prolongs it by having Abraham carry it out. And Abraham is to be the instrument of death in the life of his boy. You can imagine. I can't. Only in my wildest imaginations Now, why would a good God ask a kind and gentle and loving father like Abraham to do such a thing?
Well, it's clear. To put to test the validity, the authenticity of the man's faith. Was Abraham more in love with the gift of God or God himself? Which is a question every parent has to ask himself. periodically.
Do I adore the gifts God gives me more than I adore the giver? Of those gifts. Have I turned to worshiping the ones that God has granted me? rather than the one who gave me These delights in my life. The word burnt offering really means a whole burnt offering, W-H-O-L-E, an entire burnt offering.
When that kind of ola is the word, when an ola was offered up, it was hoof, tail, head, ears, body, carcass, all of it. The entire offering was burnt up before God. That's the word used by God. I want the entire body of this young man placed on the altar and given to me. You can't help but be impressed with the Father's swift obedience.
I'm impressed with that. Look at the speed of Abraham's reaction. There's no argument. There's no hesitation. There's no bargaining, there's not even a question or a hint of reluctance.
Abraham rose early in the morning. He saddled his donkey. He took two of his young men with him. and Isaac his son. And he split wood for the ola.
for the whole burnt offering. And he arose and went to the place of which God had told him. There is a resignation in this father's actions, isn't there? He held nothing back, made the journey, took the wood. Planned to bid his boy farewell, a final Farewell.
I'm impressed with the dad's simple, trusting faith. On the third day, Abraham raised his eyes, and he saw the place in the distance. He looked in the distance and he saw the mountain.
Somehow, God must have communicated to him that's the place, Mount Moriah. That's where I want your boy to be sacrificed. And uh Abraham said to his young men who had made the journey thus far with them, Stay here with the donkey. I and the lad will go yonder And we will worship. and return to you.
It took several readings of this. When I first looked at this passage, to realize that this is a real statement of faith. I and the lad will go. I and the lad will worship. Look at the plural pronoun we.
We will worship And I and the lad will return. You ever seen that before? How could Abraham know that?
Well, if you will hold here, you'll find an answer to that question in Hebrews chapter 11, I think it's verse 17. Hebrews 11, 17 answers the question how Abraham could have said, we will go, we will worship, and we will return to you. By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac And he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten Son. It was he to whom it was said, In Isaac your seed shall be called. Watch.
He considered that God is able to raise men even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type. You know how Abraham thought they would return? He thought he would offer up Isaac and God would give him his life back. He knew that somehow God would resuscitate Isaac and bring him back down Moriah with him. That's how we could say what he said in verse 5.
We will go, we will worship, we will return. Oswald Chambers in his Eminent work, My Utmost for His Highest, writes about reckless abandonment. Listen to these words. Faith is the heroic effort of your life. You fling yourself in reckless confidence on God.
God has ventured all in Jesus Christ to save us.
Now He wants us to venture our all in abandoned confidence in Him. The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering. Again and again. You will get up to what Jesus Christ wants, and every time you will turn back when it comes to the point until you abandon resolutely. Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold by common sense.
and leap into what he says. Christ demands of the man who trusts him the same reckless spirit that is daring enough to step out of the crowd and bank his faith in the character of God. That's what Abraham does. I'm impressed not only with his speed and with his. Simple faith, I'm impressed with the thoroughness of his response.
Um Keep reading here. We will go, we will worship, and we will return to you.
Now it's just the two of them. As this story unfolds, So the servants are left back, and now it's Abraham and Isaac making their way up the mountain together. Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering. and laid it on Isaac, His son, Now, when I was growing up in Sunday school, I remember seeing stories of Abraham and Isaac, and Isaac was always a little tiny boy. who kind of walked along with his daddy.
But little tiny boys don't carry enough wood. for an offering. Isaac isn't a little boy. Isaac is half-grown. He's a young adult.
Isaac is old enough to converse with his father and to understand something of sacrifice. Little boys don't know enough to ask this kind of question. This is a wonderful moment between a father and a growing son. And if you let the words speak as they are, you'll be impressed with with their relationship. Isaac Look at this.
Abraham took the wood and laid it on his son and And took in his hand the fire. And the knife. Picture that. And the two of them walked on together. And Isaac spoke to his father and said, My father, he said, Here am I, my son.
He said, Behold, the fire. And the wood. Yeah. But Where's the lamb for the burnt offering? You forgot to bring the animal.
Which tells you that Abraham didn't tell Isaac all that they were going to be doing. on their way up the mountain. By the way, when God tests you, He's not testing other people, He's testing you. When the test is designed for you, it isn't designed necessarily for you to share the whole story with everybody else. Here is a father being tested who doesn't tell his son the whole story.
even on his way up the mountain. The boy is asking. Where is the sacrifice. Hey, Dad. Where's the lamb?
Hmm. I'm impressed with Abraham's answer. Isn't it great how he answers Isaac? Verse 8. Abraham said, God will provide.
I like it that Abraham doesn't say to Isaac, well, you're the sacrifice.
Now, that'd kind of blow a guy away walking up a mountain with a handful of wood, hearing from his daddy, you're the one we're going to burn up when we get up the top of the hill. There is a place where you have to be wise when you deal with things like this. You talk about risk. Look at his answer. God will provide for himself.
That's up to God. We're doing God's will. It's up to Him to work it out. He knows the answers in the back of the book. He's able to put all this together, Isaac.
Let you and me trust him. If I'm willing to risk, I know you are too. Let's go at this together. Wow, imagine the exchange between father and son as Abraham and Isaac trekked up the hill. You're listening to the Bible teaching of Chuck Swindahl, and this is Insight for Living.
We're just getting started in a 14-part series of biographical sketches called Fascinating Stories of Forgotten Lives. You know that feeling when you're reading through the Bible and suddenly a minor character jumps off the page? Maybe it's Onisiphorus who wasn't ashamed of Paul's chains, or Joanna who quietly funded Jesus' ministry. Chuck has that rare gift of turning these brief mentions into unforgettable encounters with real people who faced real struggles, just like we do. His series called Fascinating Stories of Forgotten Lives gives you 14 of these portraits.
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Monday on Insight for Living. The preceding message, Abraham, the father who released his son, was copyrighted in 1990, 1992, 2001, 2006, 2012, and 2024. And the sound recording was copyrighted in 2024 by Charles R. Swindahl, Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide.
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