The Staff of Isaac

The Good Shepherd does not solely lead us into promise. He also leads us into surrender.

Abraham walked with the staff of promise, believing God for what could not yet be seen. That was commended to him as faith, drawing an archetypal picture for the believer of the substance which pleases the Lord. But every generation faces a new giant. And for Isaac this meant walking with another staff altogether.

Isaac’s life is remembered not because he conquered kingdoms or parted seas, but because he climbed a mountain carrying the wood upon which he believed he would be offered as a living sacrifice to the Most High God. Every step toward Moriah was a quiet declaration, every inch more powerful in its certainty. He was saying with every yard, first quietly, then louder than a battle cry, “I trust my Father.”

There is a road every disciple must walk. It winds upward toward Calvary, where the beams of the cross rest upon weary shoulders. At first the weight feels unbearable. We pray for release, yet the Lord so often transforms the burden into something holy. If only we continue our march all the way to the high place.

The very cross we once prayed to escape becomes the altar upon which our old life is laid down.

This is the staff of Isaac. Trust and unhinged sacrifice.

It is held to this day by those who trust when they cannot completely understand. Those who continue walking when heaven appears silent. Those who surrender not because they see the outcome, but because they know the Father’s heart. And they trust in their Heavenly Father like Isaac trusted in his.

The son or daughter who trusts resolutely and completely in the Heavenly Father can not only carry a cross up the mountain. But can believe for the provision of God at the summit.

The Kingdom of God will be filled by the men, women and children who made daily acts of trust. Because trust is the son of faith. Just as Isaac is the son of Abraham.

The new Heaven and the new earth will be full of living sacrifices. Men and women who discover that true life is not found in preserving themselves, but in giving themselves away. In these, the altar is no longer built from stone. It is built within, and burns incessantly as a pleasing aroma to Christ.

Perhaps the cross you carry today is not your punishment, but your preparation. Perhaps the weight in your hands is leading you to the very place where God reveals His faithfulness most clearly. Lean on it, that isn’t a burden in your hand, but a staff to rest upon en route to your final destination.

The Shepherd knows the road. He has walked it before us.

So take hold of the staff of Isaac. Walk with quiet confidence. Trust beyond your finite understanding. Carry the wood up the mountain until heaven provides the Lamb once again. Knowing always, the Eternal Lamb has already been slain.

Some good news to start your week: every altar of surrender and trust that you build for the Father, Yahweh, becomes a testimony of resurrection.

Be a living sacrifice this week. You won’t regret it. And you will see the fruit of the Spirit working in you and through you, as you witness the provision of the Lord. For on the mountain of God, it will be provided.

Keep Breathing,
Daniel Kooman

PS read the full passage that inspired this post in Genesis 22

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 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 I am, 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 I am.” 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. ¹⁴ So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”