Unexpected altar

Isaac lay on the altar watching his father prepare to sacrifice. No sacrificial animal in sight. A strange place for a beloved child. It didn’t make sense. His father had said “The Lord will provide, my son,” but time was drawing near and here he was, bound on the altar of sacrifice.  Unexpected. Unexplained.

I’ve often thought of Abraham’s grief in this remarkable scene in Scripture. But consider Isaac. Walking up the mountain with his father. Wondering how a sacrifice can take place when they’ve brought no sacrificial animal with them. Watching Abraham build the altar and arrange the wood. Puzzled by his father’s next move: Binding him? Placing him on top of the wood of the altar? Why?

Unexpected provision

Then at the last minute, it happened. 

Did Isaac hear the angel of the Lord? Did he see the ram caught in the thicket before his father released him from his bonds? Did he hear the audible voice of God as his father did? Or was it the sound of thunder? 

Did he understand the Lord’s declaration of blessing? The blessing that spoke of his own future. Of offspring “as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand of the seashore.” That “will possess the city gates of their enemies.”  Did he take to heart the promise that “all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed my command”? (Genesis 22:15-18)

Unexpected encounter

As an adult, Isaac chose to live near the area of Beer-lahai-Roi. Fascinating. This was the place named after Hagar’s testimony. She called God “The Living One who sees me” because of her personal encounter with Him. Perhaps Isaac needed that reminder in the years that followed his experience on the altar.  [Genesis 25:11; Genesis 16:13-14]

“God, You are the Living One who sees me.”

God was doing a work in Abraham’s life that would impact the nations of the world. But He also cared for Isaac, child of promise—

the first of many grains of sand, 

the first of many stars in the galaxies, 

the one that generations would name as they described their God: God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. 

Unexpected altars

For Isaac, it was an unexpected altar. Unexplained. 

Sometimes we find ourselves on unexpected altars. Nothing of the historic global weight that Isaac’s altar carried, but altars nonetheless.  

And in the unexplained, how do we respond? I’ve questioned God before. Been fearful and anxious. Felt disappointed and confused. And through the years I’ve learned to cry out to the Living One who sees me. 

Because ultimately I want to know Him deeper and further than I’ve ever known Him before. To receive the mystery and trust Him in the midst of it. 

“Teach me Your ways, O Lord!” 

And this I know—in the unexpected, in the unexplained—His steadfast love never ceases, His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness. [Lamentations 3:21-23]

“I say, ‘The Lord is my portion, 

Therefore I will put my hope in Him’” (Lamentations 3:24).

What about you?

Have you found yourself at an unexpected altar? Unexplained sacrifice? How do you lean into the Living One who sees you?