By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”
Hebrews 11:17,18
Two of our children were born through an operation that was done in a hospital. After each child was delivered, the doctors were focused on Mary Ann and closing-up where the baby came out. I was sitting by her head, trying to comfort and reassure her while a newborn was crying in the background.
Eventually a nurse brought our child to me and asked if I’d like to hold them. I can still remember how nervous and excited I was. I had been practicing how to hold a newborn for some time, but this was different. This was real. I slowly reached out my arms and received our child.
Making eye contact with the nurse, she started to hand our child to me, I felt a lump in my throat. I started to sweat. My hands and arms were shaking. As our child touched my hands, I did what any parent would do. I carefully held them, supporting their head and back. After making sure that they were safely in my arms, I brought them close. As I embraced our child, I could hear them breathe. I could feel them squirm. I could see them blink their tiny eyes.
As skilled and professional as all the doctors, nurses, and technicians were, this was different. They had held hundreds of newborn infants. They had gone through this so many times that it probably had lost some of its excitement. Some of them had held twins. Even triplets.
But none of them had held my child. All their experiences were with a child that belonged to someone else. Yes, they cared about all those children. But this wasn’t one of those, this was ours. This child was mine. I was holding onto our child. I was embracing our own child.
This is how the writer wants the Hebrews to understand and feel what Abraham experienced. His willingness to sacrifice his own son wasn’t just another lamb. Some notch on his spiritual belt. Why?
Because God’s promises weren’t tied to a what. He embraced the personal promises of God that were connected to a who. But not just any who. His who. His son. The child that he had embraced all his life.
When Abraham embraced the promises, he welcomed them with open arms. Just like how he received and embraced Isaac, he also embraced the promises. He took care of and responsibility for Isaac and God’s promises. This wasn’t any plain-vanilla receiving, but an open hearted and excited receiving.
When Abraham embraced the promises, there was no holding back. Nothing was too much. Too much to ask. Too much to sacrifice. When we embrace the promises, there ain’t no mountain high enough to keep us from doing what we’re supposed to do. We won’t even think about our own safety. We will literally do anything to help those we’ve embraced.
One day we were visiting my parents and Jenny was about two. She was standing on a kitchen chair while my mom and dad were just loving on their first granddaughter. All of a sudden, Jenny lost her balance and fell off the chair. Without thinking, I dove to save her. To this day I still don’t know how I did it, but I threw myself under her. Catching her head with my hand, she landed safely and softly on my chest.
This is what happens when we embrace the promises. We see them and then reach out for them. We take them in our hands and hold them close. There’s nothing that we won’t do for them. An embraced promise is one that we’ll never let go of.
So, when it came to Abraham offering his son Isaac, there wasn’t any reason to say no. Why? Because he had embraced the promise. It wasn’t just a bunch of words somewhere up in his head. Not on your life. When we’ve embraced God’s promise, the only answer is “Yes.”
Which brings up the very convicting question of whether or not we’ve embraced God’s promise or not. I’m not talking about following a bunch of do’s and don’ts. It’s not even memorizing Bible verses (as good as that is.) It’s not staying away from certain kinds of people either.
Embracing God’s promises is just that. It’s when we leave where we are and go to where God is. Where he wants us. We come close to God and just listen to anything and everything he says. We listen to his promises and pull them close. Where we make them part of our lives.
It’s not a popular thing today to talk about embracing God’s promises unless it’s tied to receiving some blessings. When God comes up with the goodies to reward good behavior, then we’ll listen. We’ll pay attention when there’s stuff and success at the end of our obedience. But Abraham was following God for a better reason. A bigger reason. He wanted to please the one who loved him. He wanted to please the one who he loved. Since God has embraced us in and through Jesus, our natural and powerful response is to obey. Or at least it should be. So, since God has embraced us, what’s holding us back from willingly following him all the days of our life?
Noodling Questions
How has God embraced you? Give examples.
List three ways that we’re holding back from embracing God.
Describe two ways that we can more fully respond to God’s embrace.
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