Genesis 22:1-19

Genesis 22:1-19
Contemporary English Version (CEV)

  I understand this story theologically -- I know that God is demonstrating how everything ultimately belongs to him, and how he keeps Abraham from doing the very thing God does later on in the New Testament, sacrificing his innocent son.  From that perspective, I get this story.
  But I still can't wrap my head around this.  It just makes my heart ache to think about it.  What does Abraham think of this?  What of Isaac -- how can he make peace with these events?  How can they continue to worship God as though this little test didn't happen, or didn't change the relationship?  Could they still trust God?
  I can't make sense of it, and I think it's okay for me to not understand it.  The important thing is that I keep returning to it, keep asking God why -- surely there is a reason, a purpose.  I know many of the explanations, but it still doesn't sit well with me.  I trust God, but I don't always understand God.
  Regardless of whether I can grasp how God is working, I will continue to come back, to ask questions, to lean into what God is doing so that I might come to a deeper understanding of how God is at work in the world, that I may join in.