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Food for Thought: Abraham: Struggling to Be Faithful

From the "Bad Boys of the Bible" series ...

Dr. Mark Ruppert

Genesis 22:1-19 

When was the last time you took a test? For some it has been eons ago and for others it might have been as early as this past Friday. If you could pick out one of the tests you have taken and say that it was the most important test of your life, which would it be? The ACT? SAT? Drivers test? Some type or entrance exam? You’re last History test? Now let me ask you, how many of you enjoy or enjoyed taking tests? There probably aren’t too many people around who enjoy or enjoyed taking tests.

This morning we continue with our series of “The Bad Boys of Scripture.” We have looked at the story of Adam and Eve and two weeks ago the story of Cain and Abel. This morning we look at Father Abraham. And we just read how God tested Abraham with a test that to my recollection, not many people have ever had to face. And the school that Abraham went to in order to take this test was the School of Faith .

You see, throughout his life Abraham had been confronted by other tests and he came away with, from my perspective, some very poor grades. But when he was confronted with the test that we have just read that seemed so bizarre and mind-boggling he passed it with flying colors.

Let’s spend a few moments looking at some of the previous tests that Abraham faced and give him a grade before we get to the killer test of Abraham and Isaac.

Remember I said a few Sundays ago that a name in the Bible might say a lot about the person-something about their personality or a characteristic or something that was even prophetic. Do you know what the name Abraham means? Abraham in Hebrew means, “father of a multitude.” When we go back and read about Abraham in scripture we find out that he was a towering figure of faith, he is the patriarch of the Hebrews. His influence is present in the three great religions of the world: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

His first test came in Genesis 12:1 and following. Turn with me to Genesis 12:1 and think of a grade you would give Abraham, who, in the beginning was called Abram. It says, “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing….’ Verse 4-‘So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran .’” Let me also add that Abram took not only his nephew Lot but also his wife Sarai. So what grade would you give him for this test? Depending on how hard a grader you are, do you think an A+ to an A-? I mean he ends up leaving his homeland and listening to the voice of God to travel to an unknown land. Not bad Abram, you are off to a good start.

The next test comes in 12:9 and following. We read, beginning in verse 9, “And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb. Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to resided there as an alien, for the famine was severe in the land. When he was about to enter Egypt , he said to his wife Sarai [who, by the way, is his half-sister but is also his wife],’I know well that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; then they will kill me, but they will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that it may go well with me….’” And we read on that that is what happens, that, of all people, the Egyptian Pharaoh takes her in and verse 16 says, “And for her sake he [Pharaoh] dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen…[etc., etc].” And before the Pharaoh takes her into his bedroom verse 17 tells us that the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.” When the Pharaoh finds us she is Abram’s wife he gives him back his wife and tells him to get out. God rescued Sarai from harm and for his deeds he does not censure Abram. So Abram leaves with Sarai and all the possessions that the Pharaoh had given him in the first place. So instead of losing everything, including his life he comes out smelling like a rose. He was willing to sacrifice his wife for the sake of his own hide and well being. So what kind of a grade for Abram? How about a D to D-?

Moving along, Abram’s wife Sarai is not able to conceive children and so, as they did in those days, Sarai makes her slave-girl Hagar available to him as another wife, and Abram agrees to have sex with her to see if she can bear him an offspring. Hagar conceives but then she has contempt for Sarai who complains to Abram who gives Sarai power to do with Hagar as she pleases and Sarai dealt harshly with Hagar to the point that Hagar runs away with her child. They do come back but Abram did nothing to protect Hagar or her child who was called Ishmael. He sat back quietly as his wife Sarai mentally and physically abused Hagar. OK, what kind of a grade for Abram this time?

And again in chapter 20 we read of another incident, déjà vu all over again, where Abram leaves his home in Mamre and journeys to the Negeb, which was a grazing region just a few miles south of Hebron , where he settles in Gerar. Once again, instead of saying that Sarah is his wife and mother of his future heir, he tries to pass her off as his sister. The king of Gerar, Abimelech, unintentionally claims Sarah just like the Pharaoh before him when they were in Egypt , and again there is a divine judgement that befalls the king and not on Abraham. And again Abraham is let off scot-free; Abimelech offers Abraham his choice of land and pays Sarah 1,000 pieces of silver as an apology. Abraham comes out smelling like a rose as a result of his misdeeds and he is richer than ever. Now how would you grade Abraham? How about an F for failure to learn the first time he passed Sarah off as his sister.

OK. At this point if we could take a piece of graph paper and draw the incidents of passing the tests of faith or not it would look like, as someone once put it the Himalayas, with many staggering pinnacles of trust interspersed with deep valleys of doubt. But the incident that we read about in our passage today would put all the valleys in the backdrop for looming above would be Mt. Everest , or more correctly it would be Mt. Moriah .

It took more than twenty years after God had first promised for the promise to be fulfilled. For we read in Chapter 22 that Sarah becomes pregnant and she bears a son Isaac. Throughout the whole time God alone stayed focused on what was to come. Throughout all the lies and times of deception, God kept the goal in sight. So their son Isaac is born and now Sarah we read in Genesis 21tells Abraham to cast Hagar and Ishmael and he does. And so the mother of faith shows her mean and jealous streak. As long as they served a purpose Sarah put up with them. But now that she has Isaac they are dispensable.

Up until now Abraham has a checkered record. I haven’t been able to give a complete track record but, “He does so many things well: he is obedient to God’s call to relocate; he preservers despite setbacks and challenges; he displays compassion toward family and strangers alike; he exhibits a deep sense of justice; he is bold enough to bargain and argue with God. At the same time, Abraham does many things wrong; he lies to protect himself; he jeopardizes the honor of his wife; he abandons his son and his son’s mother not once but twice; he stands passively in the face of Sarah’s abuse of Hagar; he needs constant assurance that God’s promises to him will come to pass. Abraham is a mixed bag of positives and negatives.” (Bad Boys of the Bible, Barbara Essex, p. 32)

And so Chapter 22 begins, “After these things God tested Abraham.

We know what Abraham was told to do and so he follows the command to sacrifice his son Isaac as a burnt offering. He has already said goodbye to one son, Ishmael, and now the promised one is to be killed. I mean, what’s up with this, God? Does God have second thoughts? Did Abraham have it wrong after all? Does God somehow put His blessing on child sacrifice? Has the past deceptions finally caught up with Abraham and the joke is on him? So Abraham has to make a difficult choice and we are not sure what he will do. If Abraham does not pass the test God’s design for creation will have to be revisited- remember that from Abraham, God promised, would come a great nation. How would a great nation come about if the only heir were killed? Throughout his life, Abraham had so many close calls, so many near misses. And now God wants him to sacrifice his only son. If Abraham does what God commands he will be known as the one who, in old age, callously murdered his own son and would have had to give strange religious reasons for doing so.

And knowing what we know of Sarah he would have had a lot of explaining to do. This command from God is an example of just how serious faith is. This is a story of anguished faith. In the beginning of the story God is the tester and by the end of the story God is the provider. For that is exactly what God does on Mt. Moriah , God provides a substitute for Isaac. Abraham is ready to yield the blow that will end the life of his son when the angel of the Lord tells him not to lay his hand on the boy. He has passed the test with an A+ for he is told, ”for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

Abraham is so human it hurts. The story of Abraham is a story about a person struggling to be faithful. He is a person of strength and yet we see his flaws in regards to his motives, behavior, and thoughts. When we hope he will “get it right” he disappoints us time and time again. Don’t we want Abraham to be so much better than we are, after all, isn’t he the father of the faith?

But Abraham isn’t any better than us. He is just as much seduced by ego and selfishness as we are. He is self-centered and self-serving, just like us. He is ambitious and stubborn and defensive like us. And yet God chose him for a reason, a purpose. It is important to remember, God chooses imperfect people all the time to put into motion His divine plan. Just read the scriptures and you see it time after time.

When God calls us to act, we always have a choice. And how we choose says a few things: It says something about what we believe or feel at that moment; it says something about who we are; and it says something about how we see ourselves in God’s creation.

Maybe you have made some bad choices or decisions in the past. Maybe you made them without thinking through all the ramifications. Maybe you have had one disappointment after another and God seems to be distant.

Maybe the ground is sinking in around you and you are finding it difficult to stand on what God promises in scripture.

In Isaac we have a Suffering Servant who willingly submitted Himself to the Father’s will. In Abraham we see the Father who “did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all” (Rom. 8:22 ). And in the ram we see the Lamb who was the substitute who died for the sins of the world.

Abraham reminds us to trust, even when we question and doubt. Abraham reminds us that faith is strengthened when we seek and question and search. Abraham reminds us that God is there! Always. Amen.

Key Points

Introduction: When was the last time you took a test?

“Abraham” means father of a ____________

His first test-Gen. 12:1f (“Go from your country…”)

The test score____

The next test-Gen. 12:9f (down in Egypt )

The test score____

Another test- Gen. 16 (the handling of Hagar and Sarai)

The test score____

The next test-Gen. 20 (settling in Gerar)

The test score____

The biggest test of all-Gen. 22 (more than 20 years since the promise)

In the beginning of the story God is the ________ and at the end God is the _________

God chooses ___________ people all the time to put into motion His divine plan

Abraham reminds us to trust even when we question and doubt; that faith is strengthened when we seek and question and search. Abraham reminds us that God is there!

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)