A Father’s Sacrifice

From the beginning of time, fatherhood has always required sacrifices. Many fathers in the scriptures have shown us examples of this principle in memorable and inspiring ways. Perhaps the second-best example was a man named Abram. Not only can we all learn from him, but you may have more in common with this prophet than you think.

Do you feel that you never get the blessings you’re promised even though you try to do the right things? Do you ever wonder whether God demands too much and gives too little? If these issues sound familiar, then Abraham may be the Bible hero you could learn the most from.

Abram was always a very righteous man. Despite his wife, Sarai, being barren, Abram received a promise from God at the age of seventy-five that God would make him a great nation and that Abram’s family would bless all the families of the earth. Despite facing danger in Egypt, famine, and family problems, Abram continued to obey God and trust that His promise would be fulfilled.

It’s easy to trust and obey God when His promises are fulfilled immediately and in obvious ways. But that isn’t often the case for us, and it certainly wasn’t the case for Abram. Even ten years after God’s initial promise, Sarai was still barren. Abram must have been pretty confused, but the Bible never mentions him complaining or despairing.

How do we respond when things don’t happen as quickly as we want them to? Do we stop keeping the commandments, accuse God of breaking His word to us, or become bitter? Abram didn’t. He did, however, go to God in prayer to express his desire for offspring and ask for clarification on the promises God had given years before. His humble question was answered with the promise of a son. Abram believed God’s promise, and God soon blessed Abram with a son, Ishmael, through Sarai’s handmaid, Hagar.

But God had even more in store for Abram and Sarai. After the birth of Ishmael, God established a covenant with Abram and his family. That covenant included circumcision, the changing of Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s to Sariah . . . and the promise that Sariah herself would bear Abraham’s birthright son. At a hundred years old, Abraham was finally given Isaac.

But Isaac’s birth eventually necessitated that Hagar and Ishmael leave Abraham’s household. Abraham was reluctant to send the two away; he loved Ishmael. But God promised that He would take care of Hagar and Ishmael, so Abraham followed the command to send them from the camp. God indeed blessed Ishmael and his mother, and Abraham was finally left with what must have felt like his happy ending.

But it wasn’t the end. As the well-known story outlines, God eventually commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. It’s hard to imagine the depth of Abraham’s horror. He had waited a hundred years for this son, the joy and crowning blessing of his life. And wouldn’t the end of Isaac also mean the end of God’s promise to establish Abraham’s seed through Isaac?

Sometimes we feel that blessings are stolen from us. We feel that we deserve better than we get, or we get to experience joy only temporarily while we watch others keep their joy for what looks like no effort at all. We may even feel that God has broken His promises to us. It may be the hardest thing we will ever have to do, but we have to follow the example of Abraham.

Only when Abraham’s hand held the knife above his son did an angel intervene. Only then did God know that Abraham was truly ready to trust and follow Him in every circumstance. Abraham’s ultimate act of obedience sealed forever the blessings God had always been eager to bless him with.

Whether our greatest sacrifice is our most addictive bad habit, friends who drag us down, or any combination of hardships, we can take courage in the lives of Abraham and Sariah. Through patience, trust, and obedience, we can secure for ourselves the promises God is excited to give for us, even if we have to wait until the next life.

But if Abraham is perhaps the second-best example of the sacrifices required in fatherhood, who is the best one? The answer is obvious: our Heavenly Father himself. Just as God provided a ram to take Isaac’s place at Moriah, so did He provide His son, Jesus Christ, to save us. God is the ultimate father, and He is never as far away as we may think.