In the real world, the birth of Laughter Boy was the beginning of the next, and even more challenging, chapter in the old patriarch’s story.
God has watched Abraham and his son. He watched the way Abraham first looked at his son at his birth, and how after a century of waiting, Abraham laughed. They laughed through infancy, the old man laughing at every new smile and every new word. “Did you hear that? I think he said ‘Abba!’” He laughed when Laughter Boy took his first step, and all the way through toddlerhood.
I imagine Abraham took Isaac with him everywhere by then. After all, he was 103 years old, and he wanted to squeeze the most out of each day with this long-awaited and much-promised son.
I’m sure he was over-protective, doting over the boy at every childhood injury or cold. I imagine that well-meaning friends said, “Isaac, now that you are turning five years old, aren’t you looking forward to riding the bus to school this fall!” Do you think Abraham parted with his son? He brought Isaac to Kindergarten that first day, and the father just couldn’t let go of his little boy’s hand. He said, “I think we will homeschool. Thanks.” And he laughed all the way back home.
God was watching all of this laughter, and the Lord was monitoring Abraham’s heart. This was, after all, his only begotten son, and there certainly would be no more. Not at the age of 110. The oldest man in the county, and he’s out there laughing while he plays toss in the backyard with his son. He trains the boy in life skills: “Here, son, let me show you how to care for a sick lamb. You will need this skill when you take over the herd.”
God watched while Sarah called them to dinner, Abraham and Laughter Boy. Isaac is growing up, you know. She notices that now it is Isaac who is holding Abraham when they walk over the unsteady ground over the hilltop.
The Lord has watched all of this with pleasure, but the Lord knows what has happened in the heart of Abraham. This is Abraham, who without question was willing to leave his father’s household to follow God wherever he would go. Abram showed that he loved God more than his own family then. I wonder what choice he would make now? Has he left his father’s idols and been granted a promise, only to have that very promise become an idol itself?
After these things God tested Abraham and 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 of which I shall tell you." Genesis 22:1-2
And the Lord tells Abraham to worship again. Only this time it’s not a sheep or an ox. God calls for Abraham to give his son—and notice how God words it: his only son, named Isaac, whom he loves. God is very specific in pinpointing the difficulty of this sacrifice. The promises have been nice, though seemingly impossible. But this request goes a step further. Maybe one step too far. At least, it seems that way to me. But perhaps by this point, Abraham has learned to take God’s words to him by faith, and Abraham knows that Isaac is the one thing in the world that he would not, could not, cannot give up. It seems to destroy the promise, more surely than Ishmael would have fulfilled it.
Abraham is the father of our faith because, without question or argument, he follows the Lord’s call. He has learned to obey God’s call and to trust the outcome over the last four decades. He had left his father’s house. He had trusted God for a son, from whom would come a nation, and had held on to that promise for a quarter of a century before it was fulfilled. And now, in his advanced age, he was willing to lose the son of his laughter and the nation that he represented, all because God said it.
He leaves early in the morning (before he can change his mind), and he doesn’t bring an animal (there’s no backup plan on Abraham’s part, not this time). He only brings his beloved son, Laughter Boy, whom he loves. There is no other plan in his mind. But, no doubt, he is wrestling with God the whole way.
Laughter Boy, his old father, and a servant walk in silence. But inside Abraham’s head, there is plenty of conversation taking place. Are you sure you want this, Lord? This is just a test, right? You don’t really want this? Maybe you mean something else, and I wasn’t hearing you right? You spoke to me clearly yesterday, but I don’t hear you today. Is there anything you’d like to say now, Lord? Because if there is anything . . . anything at all you’d like to say, this would sure be a good time for you to speak.
God shows him the mountain. If Abraham had the ears to hear it, the Lord would have told him more about it. Mt. Moriah? What is that city just on the other side? That is Salim. Isn’t that a pagan town? It is right now, but someday you will have a descendant named David, who will rename it Jerusalem. It will be called the city of God, and he will build me a temple there. Why go here, just north of Salim? It won’t be the last time a sacrifice is made in this place.
He goes on up with just Isaac and the torch and the wood. Laughter Boy asks his only question: “Where is the sacrifice?” And Abraham, against all hope, speaks by faith: “God will provide the sacrifice, my son.” And Isaac trusts his father, just as surely as Abraham did his.
The two build an altar and arrange the wood in silence, but the inner argument continues between Abraham and his God. God, I’m not sure this is fair. After all, you are God. You don’t know what it’s like to, to lose your only begotten son, to knowingly bind him up and place him on an altar and to have to kill your own self. This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. You don’t know what you are asking! So, is the plan to bring him back from the dead? Is that what you will do, Lord? . . . Why don’t you speak? Give me a clue here! You are so silent! My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He takes out the knife, and holds it aloft, ready to kill his son as swiftly and painlessly as possible. He avoids looking into his son’s confused and trusting eyes. Tears are streaming down his face, which is contorted in pain. Nothing has ever been so difficult for Abraham as this. Okay, let’s finish this.
Then (and not a moment sooner or later) an angel cries out from heaven. “Abraham! Abraham!” In the greatest understatement of the Bible, Abraham say, “I’m listening!” And God does, in fact, spare Isaac, does bring him back from the dead, in a sense, does provide a ram in Isaac’s place.
And now God—and Abraham—know that Abraham truly fears the Lord and would give him everything.
The dream God originally gave Abraham was to bless the world by being the father of many nations. Abraham died to the dream when he considered it physically impossible because of his age. Then God called and seemed to be fulfilling his dream by giving him a son. Then he asked him to give up his dream again by sacrificing him. Finally, the dream would be fulfilled, but mostly well beyond Abraham’s own lifetime.
You know what a sacrifice bunt is? How about a suicide squeeze play? The squeeze play just might be the purest play in baseball. The batter purposely risks getting himself out, in order to allow a runner from third to score. And the runner on third puts absolute trust in the batter to make contact with the ball, so that the catcher isn’t standing there just waiting to tag him out. Sometimes the manager calls on a batter to pay the ultimate price in a noble act of valor, putting the needs of the team ahead of his own agenda.
This is why they call it faith. Abraham had to believe that there was a larger, nobler cause than he could see with his own eyes. And this is why it’s not faith unless it has works. Because the true test of your commitment is when you square off and put your bat on the ball, gently, and then run down that line to make room for something far more important to happen.
YOUR ENCOUNTER
Many of us have dreams for our lives, and for at least some of those dreams, it is God who gave it to us. At the same time, we are often called to die to that dream at least once or twice, as Abraham needed to do. He had no inheritance or home, and yet he believed. He considered his advanced age, and yet held on to that dream. A nation that will bless the world. It needs to begin with a son of that promise.
And then, God just as clearly called on Abraham to die to that very dream He had placed in his heart. Give up the very son who is the only path to fulfilling the dream! Death to a dream? Hanging on to a dream? Are they two sides of the same coin?
What is the dream that God placed in you? Not your selfish ambition, not your wants, but His dream in you. Are you willing to give it up, as eagerly as you were willing to pick it up?
Maybe the most significant question for us all is, are we willing to die to every earthly thing?
“To love You
Lord my God
with all my heart
with all my soul
with all my mind
with all my strength
this is my highest prayer
This is my dream
my sacred passion
my highest goal
to love the One
for Whom I’m fashioned”
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. Matthew 19:29
I encourage you to sit before the LORD in your mind, with hands extended, palms up, to receive the blessings, the promises, and the dreams that He lovingly offers to you. Now that you have that specific dream identified and received, turn you hands over, palms down, and lay that dream on an imaginary altar. Pray something to this order: “Lord, I am willing to give up even this, the dream that you gave me, and my most precious possession, to you. Take it. I give it freely. Let me love nothing in this life but You and You alone.” Share with someone what you died to, and how it felt for you to give it up. Write down your insights.