My father tried to kill me. That’s all I know. Except there is one more thing. An angel appeared and stopped him. Maybe God loves me. Maybe He does see me, always and forever.

Isaac helped his father carry a load of wood up the steep hillside glad that at last his dad had paid him some attention, that he actually wanted his company. They were going to build an alter together and present a sacrifice to their God. Whatever.

They arrived and stacked up a crude table of stones then proceeded to lay out the wood and get ready to light the fire. It was then that Isaac noticed there was nothing to burn on the fire, no sacrifice. It was then that Isaac got nervous. In fact, his father had hardly spoken to him all day. They just hiked and sweated together, a couple of guys just being. Isaac spoke up, “Uh, dad, did you forget whatever it was you were going to sacrifice?”

“No, son. It’s here.”

Isaac looked around. No animal in sight. “Oh well,” he reasoned, “Dad must have hidden it somewhere or one of his buddies is dragging it up the trail a ways behind us.” Just as he worked it out in his head and turned back to laying the last piece of wood on the alter, he felt his fathers’ strong, rough hands grab his arm, the twisted rope binding his arms and wrapping around his legs. Isaac was too stunned to realize that he was the sacrifice. In fact, he was too shocked to kick, scream, protest, fight his father off as his dad lifted him up and, surprisingly, gently, laid him on the stones and wood then turned his face away. Isaac’s terror subsided to confusion as he lay there realizing that his father betrayed his trust, betrayed his love.

“Dad!” Isaac screamed. “Why are you doing this to me? I am your only son. Do you hate me so much that want me dead? What have I done to deserve this? Am I so evil, so wrong? Don’t do this! I am begging you!” His father turned around and gazed directly into Isaac’s eyes, tears running down both of their faces. It was then that Isaac saw the sun glinting off the knife in his fathers’ hands as he raised it just above his heart.

“Don’t! Wait!” Isaac and his father turned their heads towards the voice. “Don’t do it! Here is another sacrifice! Now I know that you love and fear God because you have not withheld your only son.” It was an angel. There was a ram struggling to get free in a thicket close by. Abraham cut Isaac loose and turned to grab the ram, slitting its throat before he dragged it to the alter. Blood from the ram’s pulsating artery squirted everywhere, drenching father and son.

Isaac disentangled himself and ran, covered in blood, down the long path towards home.

And ran.

And ran until he burst through the door and collapsing in the arms of his mother, told her everything. She comforted him, tried to help him understand what his father heard from God, how they sought to obey even though they did not understand Yahweh’s ways.

For years, Isaac tried to work it out in his head – how this deal came about. All he knew was that his father tried to kill him and God saved him. That it was some sort of pact between God and his dad. Could he trust God? Could he trust his dad? “Dad can not be trusted,” Isaac reasoned, “but God had intervened, provided a ram, helpless as a lamb, a more mature sacrifice.”

And as if God were listening in to Isaac’s thoughts, Isaac suddenly heard a whispered reply in his head, “No matter who has tried to kill you…or betrayed you…dwell near the well of the Living One…the One who sees you…the One who lives.”

So Isaac moved away from his father’s house to a place nearby called Beer Lahai Roi, which means “the well of the living One who sees me”. “A fitting place,” thought Isaac, “because the One who sees me saved my life when my dad tried to kill me. God is a well of life giving water, one who won’t betray me. I will dwell near the well of the Living One who sees me.” But Isaac never forgot the whisper. He could not see the Living One. Yet he could hear His voice. And he began to understand his dad’s hearing the voice of God and desire to obey although he did not understand and maybe never would.

One night, Isaac raised his voice to the desert’s night sky and sang out, in the tradition of his people, a song of victory. A new hero had invaded his heart. Not like an earthly dad who could never see Isaac’s love for him, could never come to know who Isaac truly was. This new hero, his superhero was yet unknown. Isaac could not see him but knew that he was seen…and loved. Always.

 Isaac’s song

Here I am lying before my father
His knife raised above my heart
You staid the hand that would have killed me
Provided another sacrifice – the Lamb of God
Behold the lamb who takes away
The sins of the world
He died that I might live forever
Bathed in his awesome blood and grace.
Now I dwell near the well of the Living One
The One Who Sees Me
The One Who Lives.
Death could not keep him
And cannot claim me
For I will ever Live in Him
Behold the Lamb.

No matter who has tried to kill you…or betrayed you…dwell near the well of the Living One…the One who sees you…the One who lives...the One who loves you. Drink Him in. Everyday.

(This story is derived, with great liberty, from Genesis 22… the first book of the Bible.)