Abraham's Dilemma and Believing God for His Best

Abraham's Dilemma

In Theological Ethics, Abraham's Dilemma refers to Abraham's anguished choice between obeying God and killing his son.

"Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."" - Genesis 22:1-2 (NIV)

While some philosophers might say that a good God could not have commanded Abraham to kill his son, I believe that God could have, and in fact commanded Abraham to kill his son.

To deny that God could have commanded Abraham to kill his son not only denies the historicity of Genesis 22 - it also denies the historicity of other passages of Scripture which refer to Genesis 22, such as Hebrews 11:17-19 and James 2:21-23. Besides, the revelation of Abraham's Dilemma is that the LORD will provide.

The LORD Will Provide

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."

- Genesis 22:9-14 (NIV)

The LORD provided a ram for Abraham to sacrifice as a burnt offering, and He has provided His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as the perfect sacrifice for our sin and sanctification.

"The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!" - Hebrews 9:13-14 (NIV)

"He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" - Romans 8:32 (NIV)

The LORD will provide. What are you (still) withholding from Him?

Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?
Your heart does the Spirit control?
You can only be blest
And have peace and sweet rest
As you yield Him your body and soul

Believing God for His Best

God was asking me, like Abraham of the Old Testament, to yield up my "Isaac". God gave me the grace to do it; but, with travail of soul, I asked Him for "a three-day Moriah". (Abraham laboured under the burden of having to sacrifice Isaac for three days since it took him that long to journey to Mount Moriah where he was to build this altar.)

- Penny Thrasher, Believing God for His Best

Obedience is Costly

Making holy choices often means making hard choices. Sometimes obedience means giving up something greatly desired, perhaps without understanding why. Abraham must have felt this way, his knife poised to take Isaac's life. Why should God require me to give Him my son's life? he must have wondered.

But God did not want Isaac's life - He wanted Abraham's heart. He wants our hearts as well, and giving them to Him might require surrendering something or someone we don't want to live without.

Do we direct our own lives, or are they under God's direction? Do we insist upon self-sovereignty, or have we yielded sovereignty over our lives to the Lord?

Obedience is costly. But the price that God paid to establish a relationship with us - wherein it is even possible for us to be obedient - was costlier still.

- William P. Risk, Dating and Waiting

God does not desire dead sacrifices. He desires living sacrifices - our obedience to His will!

"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." - Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)

When I'm faced with anguished choice
I will listen for Your voice
And I'll stand on every promise of Your Word

Through this dark and troubled land
You will guide me with Your hand
As I stand on every promise of Your Word

And You've promised to complete
Every work begun in me
So I'll stand on every promise of Your Word

Links: Abraham's Great Reward (16 May 10), Trust and Obey (16 Sep 10)