Careful Obedience

Careful Obedience

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.

Genesis 22:10–11

An angel from heaven was an eyewitness to what Abraham was doing. Yes, God himself and all the angels were watching. The angel didn’t come flying in at the last moment from a distant corner of the world. Instead, he was watching over Abraham and Isaac all along. He observed as Abraham tied up his son and raised the knife. The son willingly obeyed and waited for the deadly thrust. Tears undoubtedly were streaming down Abraham’s cheeks, and Isaac was lying on his back looking up toward heaven. All the while, the angel was watching. Right when Abraham was raising the knife, the angel shouted to him and called him by name.

How closely the holy angels gather around those of us who follow God and live faithfully! Obedience like Abraham’s gives God immense pleasure. Of all the sacrifices we can make, the one most acceptable to God is this: getting rid of sin, living a holy life, obeying God, and killing our sinful nature. This is very painful and unpleasant for us to do. Still, we must get used to God’s “good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2).

We merely talk about these matters, but Abraham and Isaac actually lived them out. They did what God wanted. In comparison, we haven’t even begun to do this. Careful obedience pleases God, but it’s unpleasant and distasteful to us. Nothing is more agonizing than getting rid of sin and killing our sinful nature. Still, we must get used to obeying God and start following Abraham’s example. Abraham didn’t try to get out of what he had to do. Instead, he looked forward to pleasing God with eager anticipation.