“Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and the wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.” -Genesis 22:6-8

God had promised many years earlier to Abraham that through his offspring he would have many descendants, as many as the stars. The day before this one however, God gave him an unusual command: To sacrifice his only son whom he loved. So in the morning he took his son and his servants to the mountain God had told him to sacrifice his son on. When they were almost there Abraham told his servants to wait where they were and that he wanted to worship alone with his son. So he and Isaac walked together up to the mountain.

When I read this passage this morning I was left wondering what Isaac’s relationship with his father was like. If you read in the Scriptures before this event you see that Abraham could be selfish, manipulative and fearful. I don’t know if Isaac knew that about his dad but I know that he saw that his dad walked with God. At some point Isaac asked the question in the passage above and probably soon realized that he would be the sacrifice. This shows me that Isaac trusted his father and the God he served. He laid on the altar and was going to be killed until God stopped Abraham.

This was the same for Jesus. He “carried the wood” just as Isaac did when he carried the cross that He was to be crucified on. All of his closest friends and family had abandoned Him. On the road up to the mountain it was just Him and God His Father. Jesus trusted His Father and willingly gave up His life as a sacrifice on the mountain.

So the question left for us is this: Do we trust our Father? He calls us to give our lives away, to “offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing” -Romans 12:1. Do we trust our Father enough that He will provide and take care of us if we surrender our lives to Him? Do we know our Father well enough to trust Him? In both of these examples the father loved his son and the son loved the father. On the road up to the mountain it was just father and son. We must know our Father before we can trust Him enough to give up our lives. Not head knowledge of who He is but actually knowing Him in our heart.