Reprioritizing

“Take your son, your only son – yes Isaac, whom you love so much – and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.” (Genesis 22:2 NLT)

It sounds brutal, but we need to be willing to kill off any affection that eclipses our love for God. Someone told me on Tuesday how the word ‘priority’ has been singular for hundreds of years. By it’s very meaning, a priority could only be one thing, but in the last few decades, we’ve pluralized it and in the same swoop of the pen: diluted it. Loving God cannot be one of our priorities: no, He must be the priority. We must part ways, or, at the very least, reprioritize anything that threatens to interfere with our love for God.

Abraham’s son was a good thing, a God thing, truly. Isaac was part of God’s plan for His people. But Abraham (and surely Rebecca, too) had elevated their offspring above human son status. He was a living god among them, absorbing their worship and obscuring God’s face.

In His great love for us, God will remove the things that block our view of Him. This isn’t sinful jealousy, but divine understanding of the essentiality of our relationship with our Creator. Humankind’s meaningful connection with God is His singular priority.

Thankfully, Abraham was willing. When push came to shove, he decided to love God most. He hiked up the mountain with his boy as sacrifice and the knife in his hand, ready to be obedient at all costs.

Have you spent much time considering Isaac? I’ve read commentators speculation on his age and understanding, his question “Where is the lamb?”, and his young strength beside Abraham’s failing frame. We’ve maybe thought about how the boy could have overcome his father, yet he made no move to do so, and we’ve applauded his trust.

Today I’m wondering about his heart. I’d imagine this entire encounter on Mount Moriah maybe humbled him a bit. See, Isaac had been the favorite child in a dysfunctional polygamist family. Very likely there had been steep competition between he and his half-brother, Ishmael. When Ishmael and Hagar were relegated to the desert, Isaac may have experienced a swell of superiority and triumph that was unhealthy for a to a young man’s ego. This entire sacrifice situation on Mount Moriah probably served to put this revered child back in his rightful place as flesh and blood in the hands of a holy God.

God loves us enough to take us to hard places where we do hard things in order to learn hard truths. He loves us enough to take away the things that hinder our relationship with Him; the idols attempting to absorb worship that solely belongs to Him. He loves us enough to reprioritize our connection to Him for the sake of our soul and the souls we have influence over.

Think about it: Abraham and Isaac would become the forefathers of the faith for many, many generations to come. A little disproportionate godly affection doesn’t seems like that big of a deal until it is magnified across a couple hundred years of family lineage. Imagine what would have been lost if God hadn’t loved humanity enough to step in and resettle Himself at the center of Abraham’s heart? Our entire Bible would read different without this moment on the mountain where Abraham remembered his son to be only human and his God to be sovereign.

Friend, sin always affects generations. Our idolatry, our favoritism, our pluralizing of priorities always interferes with our family line. We need only to look to Eden to remember this. But in His mercy, God steps in and asks us to make sacrifices that reprioritize our worship of the true God and influence our families for hundreds of years to come. Today’s priority is singular and critical. What are you worshipping?

“You shall fear [only] the Lord your God; and you shall serve Him [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect] and swear [oaths] by His name alone. You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples around you, for the Lord your God is a jealous (impassioned) God [demanding what is rightfully and uniquely His] – otherwise the anger of the Lord your God will be kindled and burn against you ad He will destroy you from the face of the earth.” (Deuteronomy 6:13-15 AMP)

Lord, please help us in our reprioritization of our relationship with You. You are God alone. There is none beside You. May we be willing to kill off any affection that competes for Your singular priority in our story. Guard our devotion and dedication to You for the sake of our children’s children. Be made famous in our faithfulness. Change the world through our remarkable allegiance to You. Amen.