Worship
By Peggy Kleckner
“He (Abraham) said
to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey, while I and the boy go over there.
We will worship and then we will come back to you…”
Genesis
22:5 (NIV)
How
many of us in the church are stepping aside with our Father, trekking up the
mountain alone with Him to worship?
Imagine
yourself as the son in this story as he willingly carries the burden of the
wood for the fire, gladly walking beside his father. (If you’re unfamiliar with
the story, read Genesis
22:1-19 and Hebrews
11:17-19.)
Did
the trek suddenly seem long, the weight heavier as they moved further up the
mountain? Is this what motivated the question later, “The fire and wood are
here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” I think too often we
accept the words of Scripture without feeling the cumbersome weight of them.
Isaac walked uphill feeling the weight of his burden, yet the pleasure of his
father’s company. As believers, isn’t that what our experience is as we enter into
worship?
Let’s
walk with them further. What about when they got to the top of the mountain and
Abraham built the altar and still there was no lamb? Can you feel the confusion
that Isaac must have felt? What about when he allowed his father to bind him
and lay him on the altar? Why would he do that? He trusted his father. As
believers, do we trust our heavenly Father when it seems that we are called to
be bound and laid on an altar of His choosing? Are you there? Do you feel the
fear, the questions? Lying still in submission to our Father, waiting for the
knife, not understanding, unable to comprehend this new picture of our Father,
yet still trusting. Your mind questions His goodness, even as your heart fully
submits. Are you able to lie still?
Seemingly
hopeless, helpless, “But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven ….‘Do
not lay a hand on the boy,’ he said. ‘Do not do anything to him.’”
Your
physical and emotional anguish at full measure, and suddenly, all is stopped by
a few short sentences…..words. Now what do you feel?
“Abraham
looked up and there in the 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 [instead of you].”
Now
can you see Jesus? Can you see Him with your heart, your emotions? Can you feel
the price paid for you?
Isaac
came down the mountain without his burden, and having experienced true faith
and worship. May we do the same.
GOING DEEPER:
1. Has God invited you to a closer look at sacrifice
and worship?GOING DEEPER:
2. Are you still trying to pay the price for your own sins?
FURTHER READING:
FURTHER READING:
Peggy is a wife and
mother of four adult children - - two sons and two stepsons, and is an active
encourager at Oakwood
Church in Delafield.
