"I and the Boy will Return"

Never can I read Genesis 22 without coming away with something deep and powerfully moving. Whether you're a Christian or are a little familiar with the Old Testament in any way,
I encourage a regular visit to this chapter. It's about Abraham offering up Isaac to be sacrificed.

This morning I stayed home with a sick little boy and missed church. But I had a powerful encounter with the Horn of my Salvation, Jesus Christ. Here I was, sitting on the sofa, reading Chapter 22 of Genesis where Abraham, Isaac, and two young hired servants venture toward the mountain on which the boy is to be slain as the ultimate test of Abraham's faith.

I hadn't seen line -- just after Abraham tells the young servants to "Stay here"-- he adds, "I and the boy will return."

Abraham not only loved God more than he loved his only son, he believed that God would resurrect Isaac! There is no hint that Abraham will refuse to slaughter his son of promise, though I can only imagine how he wondered if maybe he was hearing wrong. Would God promise me a son who'd be the father of countless descendants, only to have me sacrifice him before he's even married, let alone fathered a child of his own? No! I must choose, then, to believe that God will fulfill His promise a different way. How? By raising my son from the dead!

On top of this "aha!" moment, I then read what has moved me before, but never like it did today. When the angel of the Lord yells to Abraham to stop because "now I know...," Abraham looks up and sees a ram whose horns are caught in the thicket.

I'm telling you, it was as if I was Abraham right there. I saw His head caught in the thorny thicket of a crown on the cross. I wept and shuddered and lifted my arms in praise and thanks and love. And today I had that distinct understanding that it was all for me and only for me. "All for me" in the sense that He endured every ounce of pain and suffering for me. "Only for me" in that I saw my own sin, no one else's, and how huge it is. That is not a common experience for me, I'm ashamed to say. I too easily lump "my sins and the sins of the whole world" into my meditations of His mercy, and sometimes--how can I be so Romans 7ish???-- wander off into the offenses against me, not mine against God.

Then, this doesn't happen often either: God told me to go to my neighbor, Susan--the one who lives just beyond my birdfeeder-- and say, "Jesus was broken for you." That's all. I was like, "Huh? God? What else? Just that?" Yes, that's all for now. Later I can add the resurrection but for now, the ram's horns caught in the thicket is what I pray she sees very soon. I pray she sees Him now, the Horn of Salvation, and when He returns!