Fast - Day Two

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

From a hunger standpoint, today was better than yesterday, yet still not easy being around others with yummy smelling food. When you’re fasting, nearly every smell is heightened and every remotely food-oriented thing smells and looks yummy. I'm nearly all the way through my second gallon of distilled water, which tastes like liquid air. Praise God for the sweetness of carrot juice in the morning and the sharp tang of pomegranate juice at night.

For breakfast and lunch, I feasted on Genesis 22. It’s actually a little difficult deciding what sections to read, because the entire Bible is full of passages that point to Jesus’ work on the cross. I can easily see how I could do 40 days of reflection on the atonement, though I know at this point I can hardly imagine going 40 days without food. Someday, maybe. Not this year.

But fasting is as much a time of reflection and prayer as it is testing. I’ve been tempted to eat multiple times…to snack on the cashews in a drawer near my workstation, or dig into some popcorn at my community group tonight (and leftover pizza too!). I have food (not much) in my fridge that is possibly going to waste and I wonder if it will hold out until Sunday or Monday. I question myself and rationalize that I’m not being a good steward of that as-yet-unspoiled food…but I stay the course. It’s a time of testing. And it is nothing compared to how Abraham was tested….

Genesis 22:1-13 ESV

1) After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." (2) He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." (3) So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. (4) On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. (5) Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you." (6) And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. (7) And Isaac said to his father Abraham, "My father!" And he said, "Here am I, my son." He said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" (8) Abraham said, "God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So they went both of them together. (9) When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. (10) Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. (11) But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." (12) He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." (13) And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

God told Abraham to sacrifice his own son. This makes me think for a moment of human leadership. What I mean is that sometimes we are asked to do something by someone in authority, but we might hesitate to do it because they might not be willing to do it themselves first. Do they lead by example? Can we respect them if they don’t? It is sometimes easier to follow someone who is willing to do or has already done what they are asking you to do.

Now, I am not trying to humanize God in this, yet God DID sacrifice His own Son, who was God Himself come down from Heaven. God Himself was both willing to do this and did this. Do we follow Him because of that? Yes and no. We follow Him because He is worthy to be praised, because He is Holy and Sovereign. And we love Him because He first loved us. And yet, we should not follow Him merely because He sent His own son to be our sacrifice; but it a testament to His love and commitment to us. God is a great authority, and a great leader, and He led by example for us.

Did Abraham know that, that God would one day BE our sacrifice? Not necessarily. But He DID know that God was Holy and Righteous and Good, and so based on that alone, Abraham knew that God was worthy to be followed. As well, Abraham told his own son, that "God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering." Did Abraham expect to have to kill his own son? Yes, that was the command, and Abraham likely thought Isaac WAS the lamb that God had provided. Did Abraham also expect God to be faithful? Yes, because God had promised to make a great nation from Isaac. There seemed a conflict there, yet Abraham had faith and trust in the Lord that even if he had to kill his own son, God would work it out. This is shown in verse 5, where Abraham says that he and the boy would return. A lie? Maybe, but I don’t think so. Hope mingled with trust: faith.

Do I have that kind of faith? I like to think so, though the reality is more likely I have it for a few good moments on my best day. But only God gives me the faith I have to trust Him that much in the moments when He tests me and calls me to trust Him. I can’t trust Him without Him.

I believe that the ram that God provided introduced the concept of the substitutionary sacrifice, which would later be set forth for the yearly Day of Atonement, and even later be fulfilled in Christ’s death on the cross…that Jesus was the perfect Lamb of God. Praise the Lamb for coming!

Today’s song is by Alli Rogers, an independent Christian folk artist.

PRAISE THE LAMB

By Alli Rogers

You are my sacrifice,

my lamb I lay on the altar,

so that I may have life

Your blood is my way to the Father.

So I offer up my life.

It’s all that I have to give,

and confess that I have sinned.

Praise the Lamb, praise the Lamb, praise the Lamb,

Who was slain.

Almighty God, beheld in flesh,

Your body, murdered and buried.

Rising up and overcoming death,

while our burdens, You’ve lifted and carried.

So I offer up my life,

it’s all that I have to give,

and confess that I have sinned.

Praise the Lamb, praise the Lamb, praise the Lamb,

praise the Lamb, praise the Lamb, praise the Lamb…

With one sacrifice

You have forever made perfect

those who are being made holy.

We are being made holy.

So I offer up my life,

it’s all that I have to give,

and confess that I have sinned.

I confess that I have sinned.

Praise the Lamb, praise the Lamb, praise the Lamb…

Praise the Lamb, praise the Lamb, praise the Lamb,

Who was slain.

You are my sacrifice.

Thank You, Jesus, for willingly leading by example of how we must love each other, in service, in dying to our selves and our own agendas, and submitting ourselves to the will of our Father as You did. Thank You for being tested and tempted as we have been, for enduring it without sinning, and thus being the only perfect man who could possibly atone for us, the spotless lamb who could die in our place for our sins. We are being sanctified, being made holy, because of You. All glory and praise to You, Jesus.