The Pursuit of God by Tozer - Reflections (14)

 

Now we come to a section of the chapter, The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing, that shocked me and made me ashamed when I read it. It also brought me back to my previous reflection on how things have changed in the professing church in the seventy-seven years since Tozer wrote The Pursuit of God.

 

“Abraham was old when Isaac was born, old enough indeed to have been his grandfather, and the child became at once the delight and idol of his heart. From the moment he first stooped to take the tiny form awkwardly in his arms, he was an eager love slave of his son. God went out of His way to comment on the strength of this affection. And it is not hard to understand. 

"The baby represented everything sacred to his father’s heart: the promises of God, the covenants, the hope of the years and the long messianic dream. As he watched him grow from babyhood to young manhood, the heart of the old man was knit closer and closer with the life of his son, till at last the relationship bordered upon the perilous. It was then that God stepped in to save both father and son from the consequences of an uncleansed love." (Page 24).

 

“Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take now you son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”” (Genesis 22:1 - 2).

 

When I was a young Christian, this passage was often referred to in the things I read, in conversation, and in teaching. My early mentor, George Will, spoke of it often as a central element of the working of the Cross in our lives and in our following Jesus. There was a time, when those who desired to go deeper into Jesus knew that Genesis 22:1 - 2 was a situation they would all face, they knew it was a Way of Life that they were called to - and they taught this Way to others. 

Unlike our own day, they did not teach that our calling is to accumulate things and possessions and to fill our hearts with idols (which can include people, which can include family), but rather that our calling is to follow Jesus and His Way of the Cross, denying ourselves. It was once taught that God alone ought to be in the sanctuary of our souls and hearts, that God alone ought to be worshipped.

 

There are many facets to Genesis 22, for not only do we see Abraham tested, but we also see the Father offering His Son, and the Son being a willing offering from the Father. We also see Isaac becoming the resurrected seed of New Creation, a picture of Christ Jesus, the grain of wheat falling into the ground, dying, and coming forth in much fruit, the Risen Holistic Body of Christ (John 12:20 – 26).

 

I am shocked and ashamed that I have not preached on this passage with this emphasis of God “saving both father and son from the consequences of an uncleansed love,” and have not thought about it for many, many years. Considering that Abraham is our father of faith, and considering that we see the Cross of Christ working within our inner sanctuary in this passage, this is inexcusable.

 

We can make people our idols just as we can make things our idols, and this is something we do not want to hear in our age of self-focus, self-improvement, of Sunday morning gatherings which are often group therapy sessions more than anything. We don’t want to hear that we can make marriage, family, and children idols – even when this is all under the label “Christian.” God, and God alone is to be within our inner sanctuary.

 

“He that loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 10:37 – 39).

 

This is hardly “seeker sensitive.”

 

Yet, let’s remember that when God fills our inner sanctuary that we lay down our lives for others, including our spouses, our children, our families, our brothers and sisters in Christ, and our neighbors – as our Way of Life. (John 13:34 – 35; 15:12 – 13; 1 John 3:16; Mark 12:31).

 

All love requires cleansing at the Cross, a death and a resurrection in Jesus Christ. And consider that Isaac was a gift from God, Isaac was the fulfillment of a promise, a grand and glorious promise – we can make the promises of God and their fulfillment our idols, we can worship them rather than God.

 

Somewhere Oswald Chambers writes about us using others as an excuse for disobedience. He says that when God commands obedience that we tell Him that if we obey that others won’t understand it, that it will adversely affect others, and that therefore we can’t do what He commands. We think that God does not know the effects of our obedience on others.

 

Surely if anyone could have made this argument with God it was Abraham.

 

Tozer writes, “Possibly not again until One greater than Abraham wrestled in the Garden of Gethsemane did such mortal pain visit a human soul” (page 25).

 

“God let the suffering old man go through with it up to the point where He knew there would be no retreat, and then forbade him to lay a hand upon the boy. To the wondering patriarch He now says in effect, “It’s all right, Abraham. I never intended that you should actually slay the lad. I only wanted to remove him from the temple of your heart that I might remain unchallenged there. I wanted to correct the perversion that existed in your love"” (page 26).

 

While we will pick Abraham and Isaac back up in our next reflection in this series, I will point out two things in closing.

 

The first is that only God knows our inner sanctuary, and I think we must respect this with one another. The principle of the Cross is the same with each of us, but the working of the Cross is individual. My idols are not necessarily your idols, my possessiveness is likely not your possessiveness. Let’s also keep in mind that our idols are often good things and good people, professing Christians generally do not worship overt evil and ugliness – though they can slide into these things. Our idols can be wonderful religious things, as in Abraham’s case, our idols may even be the promises of God and their fulfillment, they may be the very gifts that God has given us.

 

The second thing is that when God’s Word is living within us, it will pierce deeply, even to dividing soul and spirit – penetrating into our inner sanctuary (Hebrews 4:12 – 13). We have become such a superficial and soulish people that we seldom experience the deep working of the Word, and when we do we run from it rather than submit to the Holy Spirit. We simply can’t imagine that God would bring discomfort to us, that He would require anything from us that would lead to the Cross, to our own crucifixion, to us actually experiencing distress in our minds and hearts and souls in order to purify our love and form us into the image of Jesus.

 

We are all about the group hug. God is all about the Cross.

 

How are you experiencing Genesis Chapter 22?

 

Are there Isaacs in my life?

 

In your life?