The impact of our faith on our children

​Many of us are familiar with the account of Abraham and his obedience when God asked him to offer up his only son. The account can be found in the 22nd chapter of Genesis.  We have heard sermons of how faithful Abraham was in obeying the Lord, however have we ever thought about the impact on Isaac?

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Let’s look at some highlights from the 22nd chapter of Genesis:

 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11 And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
 
Now let’s look at verse 7. It states that Isaac asked his “father where is the lamb for an offering”, and Abraham replied to say “God will provide”. Verse 9 states that Abraham bound his son and laid him upon the altar and stretched forth his hand to slay his son. Verses 11 to 13 give us the account of the divine intervention.

We don’t know whether or not Isaac also heard the voice of the angel that spoke to Abraham stated in verse 11, however what we do know is that Isaac was replaced by the ram caught up. So Isaac must have been unbound and the ram put in his place. This is exactly what Abraham said to Isaac  in verse 8 “God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering”.

Isaac must have learnt about the faithfulness of God at that young age. The bible does not state the conversation that Isaac and his father Abraham had going back, but l think it is safe to state that Abraham must have given some explanation and declared the faithfulness of God.

Isaac would have learnt from his father’s obedience and the faithfulness of God. Yes God did prepare a ram for the offering.

What impact is our faith having on our children? Are we telling our children how God came through for us?

The above account is very sobering of our  father Abraham that truly knew God and honoured the Lord. What an impact that would have had on Isaac.

We will not be instructed to do something like that, however are we aware that our walk and faith in God has impact on our children?.

​Bisi Oladipupo