After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” (Genesis 22:1 ESV)
Fear Not… Then Listen
What does it mean to listen? Our star quarterback thought he had a great idea. From his perspective, he thought a long pass to our sticky-fingered receiver would win the game. In the huddle, he cajoled, argued, and almost shouted. We had only a few moments before the play needed to begin, so I just said, “Nope… short fake pass and run the ball yourself.”
“You aren’t listening!” he uttered.
And I smiled. Because I understood what he meant. But he actually had it backwards. He, like many of us, misunderstand what it means to listen. We think it means to agree with what we hear… and no, I did not agree. We think it means understanding the brilliance of the words… and no, I didn’t see the light. We think it means to be persuaded… and no, I was not.
Because in that moment, I knew more than the quarterback did. I had been watching the defense’s patterns. And I was sure that there would be no defenders right where our receiver would be trying to catch the ball.
There were a lot of nuances of listening on the field that day. But the quarterback truly did not listen to me. At least not in the way that Abraham did.
Abraham did not check his schedule before saying, “here I am.” Abraham did not evaluate the probable success of God’s proposed action before Abraham obeyed. Abraham did not argue, cajole, or beg… he just said, “here I am.”
And he did what God asked of him.
The story centers around God’s strange command to Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, his only son. I wonder if I would have listened like Abraham, or non-listened like my quarterback.
The story’s key moment is when God observes, “HE feared not because he chose to LISTEN first. Now I know how fearlessly you fear God.” (Genesis 22:12 The Message)
Fear not, then listen.