Susan LaffertySarah. Wife of Abraham. Her desolate womb is noted the first time she’s ever mentioned in the Bible. What an introduction.
Beautiful Sarai left all she’d ever known because God called her husband Abram to go out. Out from the familiar. Out from his land, his relatives, his father’s house.
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.
Altars marked the path of Abraham. God said go and he obeyed. He moved his tent to the next place, built an altar and worshiped. Altars marked his encounters with a holy God, a covenant-making God. Some marked sacrifice and absolute surrender—holding nothing back from the One who called his name.
As we moved our “tent” across the world and established home in the temporary place, I thought of Abraham and Sarah. I drew strength from their journey to a place they did not know.