This week we encounter one of the most difficult passages in all of Scripture: the binding of Isaac (Genesis 21:1–3; 22:1–14). After years of longing and waiting, Sarah and Abraham finally received the child God had promised them. Yet almost immediately, Abraham faces an unimaginable command to offer Isaac as a sacrifice.
We feel the weight of Abraham’s dilemma: how do you hold devotion to God alongside devotion to your family? We wonder what must have gone through Abraham’s mind, and Isaac’s too, on that long walk up the mountain. And we are left to ask about God, who seems to demand everything but then provides a ram in Isaac’s place. Could this be a turning point, where God chooses relationship over rigid obedience?
Over the summer we explored spiritual practices that steady our hearts and open us to God, practices like prayer, hospitality, and listening for God’s voice. Abraham’s story reminds us that faith is not just about dramatic moments of decision, but about cultivating habits of trust in the everyday. It’s in those practices that we learn to listen, to discern, and to receive God’s surprising provision.
Rev. Michael Vollbrecht
