One foot in front of the other

I was reading about Abraham today. Abraham, the one who God promised to make the father of a great nation; the one who was told at the ripe old age of 100+ to take his one and only son, Isaac, up a mountain to make a sacrifice of him. Usually, when I read that story, I jump right to the ending, the part where Abraham has the knife to his son’s throat and he spots a ram caught in the thicket. Today, however, this line caught my eye: "On the third day."

The third day! Abraham was climbing toward an uncertain fate for three days. For three days, he put one foot in front of the other not knowing the outcome, not even knowing, exactly, where he was going. The conversations he must have had with himself; the conversations he must have had with God. “How could you?” “You promised…” “What gives?” The very things I have been saying to God myself lately.

I wonder though, once it was over, what Abraham would have said. I imagine if given the chance to do it differently, or not at all, Abraham would choose to make the trip exactly the same way. Because what matters is not the way the story ends, but what happens along the way. In those three days, with each difficult step, each painful conversation, Abraham was moving one step closer to God, which was the point all along.

image: "Der Engel verhindert die Opferung Isaaks," Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, www.wikipedia.com