THE LIMITS OF FAITH

Ezekiel 24:1-26:21; Hebrews 11:1-16; Psalm 110:1-7; Proverbs 27:14

“Then this message came to me from the Lord: ‘Son of man, with one blow I will take away your dearest treasure. Yet you must not show any sorrow at her death. Do not weep; let there be no tears. Groan silently, but let there be no wailing at her grave. Do not uncover your head or take off your sandals. Do not perform the usual rituals of mourning or accept any food brought to you by consoling friends.’ So I proclaimed this to the people the next morning, and in the evening my wife died. The next morning I did everything I had been told to do. Then the people asked, ‘What does all this mean? What are you trying to tell us?’”

“Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen. And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.”

There are certain things the human soul and psyche just cannot accept. Today’s Scripture from Ezekiel may be one of them. I understand about personal sacrifice and the Lord asking us to give up our many and varied vices in exchange for an eternal lifetime with Him. When it comes to taking our relatives as sacrificial lambs, though, that collides against the limits of my personal faith and obedience. I am glad the Spirit has never so tested me. I’m pretty sure I would have walked right out of the exam.

For example, I’ve never grasped how Abraham could so unquestioningly lead his son Isaac to the altar as a potential sacrifice. The Bible says Abraham acted out of faith. Here’s my question: faith in what? Did Abraham have faith that God really didn’t mean what He said, and would not, in the final moments, actually require him to take Isaac’s life? If so, that was not faith at all. It would have been the opposite: pure denial, disbelief. Perhaps Abraham’s faith was that God would guarantee him a place in heaven if he sacrificed Isaac. Sounds no better than unadulterated selfishness masquerading as misguided spirituality. Nowhere do the Scriptures suggest we can sell out others and still expect to get to heaven; quite the contrary. We are to sacrifice ourselves in serving others if we want to see eternal greatness.

So, what was it that Abraham had faith in that led him to lead Isaac to the sacrificial altar? Inscrutably, the Bible does not really clarify this. “Abraham had faith, and it was accounted to him as righteousness.” That’s no help. It comes down to one of two things: either Abraham had faith God would take Isaac and care for him in a better place; or Abraham just had a blind and unquestioning faith in faith. I’m sorry, but I do not personally find any of these answers particular satisfying. First, there is simply no support for the proposition that we can make anyone else’s spiritual decisions for them. God has no grandchildren. Second, a faith without a specific object, even if unseen, is not much better than wishful thinking. It has no focus, no goal, no destination, no end result. Now, I am well aware Abraham came from a pagan society where child sacrifice was not unusual. The concept likely did not shock him as much as it does us. That still does not make it right. Perhaps the point was to show Abraham a better option, a more worthy deity, than what he was used to as a Canaanite nomad. OK, but wasn’t there a better way to make that point than claiming his son for a sacrifice? For sure, if it came to my son, and certainly my wife, I’m pretty sure I’d say no way, no how, regardless of the consequences.

Which brings us to Elijah and his wife. Oh, my gosh! From any human perspective, how unfair! How tortured and used Elijah must have felt! What courage, what obedience it must have taken for him to stick with the Lord after his wife was taken from him. The Bible never even implies Elijah did anything but follow Yahweh’s directions. However, when the people could not understand the message, it takes little imagination to think he might well have felt his wife’s life was wasted. I’d have gotten angry; I’d have turned away. Why didn’t Elijah? Why didn’t Abraham?

Elijah and Abraham obviously knew something I don’t. I question whether even a personal, face-to-face meeting with Jehovah would be worth the death of my son or wife, recognizing that may be the wrong way to say it. More accurately, more certainly, if the Lord required me to sacrifice my wife or son as the price for admission of me or anyone else into His Presence, I seriously doubt I’d be willing to pay. I’d give my own life; I can honestly say that. But it is simply not my place to take or give any other person’s life for the benefit of another.

The Lord’s ways are sure not ours. That could be the point. After all, look what the Father did to His own Son. Perhaps there’s another way to see both Ezekiel and Abraham’s problems. Maybe, Ezekiel and Abraham can help us understand the genuine anguish God felt at Calvary watching His Son die. That was no test. It was genuine tragedy and horrifyingly real. It hurt. Recognizing the pain the Lord felt watching His Son die may not make our own losses any easier to understand or accept. At least, though, we can know our Creator knows exactly how we feel.