Chains of worship

And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. –Genesis 22:5

And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am (Genesis 22:1). We find Abraham earning the right to be called the father of faith. God will test and try Abraham to prove his faith strong, but God will never tempt man with sin (James 1:13). Without this test, Abraham would never earn his title, and we find God has a purpose in our difficult times. But let us learn from Abraham how to respond when called into the trial. God called Abraham by name into his fire, and we do not find him fearing or trying to avoid the situation. Walking by faith, Abraham declares, “Behold, here I am,” thus presenting himself before the Lord, ready and willing to face what may come. How do we react today when presented with our fire?

And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of (Genesis 22:2). Now, the details of the situation will be made known to Abraham. We find that the focal point will be what Abraham held closely with his miracle son. God wants to know if Abraham loves the blessing more than its giver. Notice also that while some details are given, the essence of the unknown remains. God tells Abraham to offer his son “upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” The absence of all the details causes us to walk by faith, not our understanding.

And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him (Genesis 22:3). Abraham, still showing his faith, “rose early in the morning,” almost showing enthusiasm for facing his test. In addition, he had gathered all the things required to offer his son to the Lord. Talk is cheap, but Abraham is putting his faith into action. However, let us not forget the role that Isaac would play here. He knew something was amiss with the absence of an animal to offer (Genesis 22:7). Yet, he carried the firewood to be used on himself (Genesis 22:6). You also will find no record here that Isaac resisted even when he was bound (Genesis 22:9). So even though his father would become renowned for his faith, we find that Isaac would play a vital role in this. Note here that sometimes when you are going through it, it is to allow someone else’s confidence to be increased.

And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you (Genesis 22:5). While there is MUCH more that could be gleaned from this story, let us focus on one last point. It is interesting that if you do a word search of the bible, the words’ worship’ and ‘bound’ first appear in the story of Abraham. Abraham tells those with him that he and his son will worship. See how he refers to his fiery trial as worship as he is going over to sacrifice his son. But still walking by faith, he said we would “come again to you,” fully believing that God would provide. This is precisely what the Lord did with the ram in the bush (Genesis 22:13), and Isaac’s bands were loosed as they returned to their companions (Genesis 22:19). Hear these words, weary traveler, if you are facing hardship in your life right now stop everything and begin to worship. God will provide for you just as he did with Abraham, and will lose your bonds. When he does, your chains will fall to the ground making their distinct sound. We worship with the sound of broken shackles falling to the ground!