I Surrender All - Gen. 20-22 & Matt. 6:19-34

I Surrender All, I Surrender All
All to Jesus, I Surrender,
I Surrender All

That has always been one of my favorite hymns, and if my memory serves me, the hymn of invitation that I responded to when I accepted Christ as a child. But as is typical with many songs we sing in church, it's so easy to sing the words and so hard to live out.

Today's Old Testament scripture tells one of the most incredible stories in all of Scripture, perhaps only trumped by that of Jesus' sacrificial death for us. In Genesis 22 the story of Abraham continues. We've been told that God promised Abram and Sarai a child and descendants too numerous to count despite their age, and after many years we see that miraculous birth of Isaac take place. If this story were an opera Isaac's birth would be a very loud, and celebratory sequence. And then we hit chapter 22. God does the unimaginable. God tells Abraham to offer this promised child, this miracle baby, this only child of the elderly Abraham and Sarah from whom the earth would be blessed, as a burnt offering.

A WHAT?!?!?!? Yes, a burnt offering.

Then what happens? Abraham doesn't ask questions, he doesn't curse God, he doesn't mourn, he saddles up his donkeys and begins his journey.

I cannot imagine this level of obedience and faith. I meagerly try to surrender all to God - I don't mind not making a lot of money, I don't mind having a humble house, I don't mind not having cool cars or clothes, but when it comes to my children's safety or my safety or several other things that I consider off limits, it's hard to surrender. I can give you great excuses and even argue for how God would understand, but Jesus demands it all. We aren't allowed to have boundaries for God.

This is a huge part of the reason Abraham is considered the Father of our faith. He is indeed the father of the line of descendants from which Jesus would come. But He is also the father and great example of the fear of God, which is what God desires. Not fear in such a way that you don't trust someone. Rather fear in a respect way. Fear of something so much greater than you that you can't for a minute imagine that you can compete with or have anything to offer. The type of respect you have for the Grand Canyon or the ocean or space.

I imagine that even Abraham couldn't have explained it very well and perhaps that's why we don't hear Abraham do much talking in chapter 22. He hears God's command, he couldn't possibly have understood why, but because of his fear (respect) of God, he simply obeys.

May we continue to move towards that kind of faith and respect and trust of God. He is certainly worthy of it.