I have a bone to pick with Kierkegaard. It has to do with the kind of risk that K ascribed to Abraham, as he stood with his knife over his son on Mount Moriah. K sees Abraham’s choice as a “leap of faith”- a leap that transcends ethics, which to K was a rational matter. We see where K is coming from, his revolt against the dead religiousity around him that was based on the power of reason to determine right and wrong.
But the story of Abraham stretched far back beyond that moment on the mountain, back to Ur, back to that embarassing sojourn into Egypt, back to his refusal of the King of Sodom’s gifts, back to the night when God commanded him to count the number of stars in the sky and promised him descendants as numerous as the night could hold;back to the covenant-making command marked by circumcision; back to the afternoon on the plains of Mamre when three visitors arrived and fellowshipped in his tent; back to Sarah laughing and then, conceiving Isaac though her womb should have been dry and dead; back to Beersheba when Abraham planted a grove and called on the “name of the Lord, the everlasting God”. Abraham’s decision to trust God-that early morning as he saddled his ass, commanded his men and young Isaac to heave the wood onto the beasts-was based on those long, painful and wondrous years of walking with God.
As Paul put it in his letter to the Romans (italics, mine) , “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief ( Abraham recalls the moment in his journey when God gave him the promise) ; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform, And therefore it was imputed him for righteousness.”
And this, I think, is faith- that long days’ walking with God, so that when the moment of testing comes, we act on faith- not a “leap” into the dark, into some unknown territory- but a climb into new terrain, with the same Person who has walked with you till then, and has held you whole through pits, vipers and enemies stronger than you.
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