Moriah, which means chosen by God, was where God had his temple built, for it was a place special and holy to him. It was also where he sent King David to offer sacrifices after his sin of taking a census (1 Chronicles 21). It seemed like such a small thing, counting the people, but David did it out of pride. Which made God so angry that he sent a plague upon the people.
So God sent David to make it right. In God’s chosen way and at his chosen place – Mount Moriah. And that’s when a loophole appeared for David. Because loopholes often appear during the mountain-top experiences God brings.
God’s dealings with His people often involve mountains and ‘mountain-top experiences.’ These are moments of epiphany when he reveals himself and grants us deeper insight. Times when he takes us deeper into our walk with him. And provides strength to endure life’s valleys and most challenging moments.
Moriah: a place of greater obedience
Moriah is where God takes us to a level of deeper trust and obedience. It’s where we learn the most difficult lessons in life. And where God teaches us to give him our best, rather than choosing the easiest way.
The Moriah loopholes
And that’s when we must guard against loopholes. All the rational and even logical choices that present themselves, trying to take us off track. And deter us from following through on what God has shown us.
Moriah is a place for learning that God wants our best. There, David learned that giving him our best comes with a cost. God is not content with half-hearted service or second-hand offerings. We can not take the easy way out.
The loophole presented to David was Ornan’s offering. “My king, I’ll give you everything you need. My threshing floor, the wood, and all the sacrifices you want to offer God.” What a gift! And David could have thought, “God is providing everything. Hallelujah!”
Moriah: a place for giving our best
So David paid for the threshing floor, the oxen, the wood, and the grain. “I can’t offer something that’s not mine, and which cost me nothing,” he said. This pleased the Lord, and the plague stopped.
Watch out for those Moriah loopholes. Those rational and logical choices that try to snatch our focus and deter us from following through on what God has shown us.
Moriah: a place of death
Moriah is also a place of death. Abraham’s Mount Moriah lesson delved even deeper. “I don’t want only your best,” God told him. “I want all.”
He said, ‘Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.’
Genesis 22:2
There on that mountain, Abraham learned that God doesn’t want easy offerings. He requires us to surrender everything to him. At Mount Moriah we become willing to relinquish our dreams, all that we hold dear, and even God’s promises.
Had I been in Abraham’s place, I likely would have heeded common sense. “Ridiculous,” I would have said. “God doesn’t demand such heathenish things!” And proud of my keen discernment, would have refused to budge even an inch.
But Abraham had walked with God for many years. He understood the dangers of trusting common sense more than faith. And he knew that sane, sensible choices don’t always come from God. Sometimes, they pop up to distract us from God’s vision.
God wants all
We’ll never know what thoughts swirled through Abraham’s mind. But he knew that God wanted all. So just as David didn’t offer an easy, free offering, Abraham didn’t take the easy way out either.
He was about to obediently offer his son on the altar to God. But God stopped him, rewarding his obedience by providing a ram to offer in place of Isaac.
These two men of God did not accept the loopholes of logic. They had learned that walking with God costs – and that it costs everything. It’s an all-or-nothing proposition.
Our own Mount Moriah
How about when we find ourselves on Mount Moriah? For it is inevitable if we strive to follow the Lord. He wants to bring us to a greater level of trust and obedience. So he takes us through the deeper lessons of Moriah. And that’s when we need to guard against loopholes that present themselves.
- Perhaps because, like David, we’ve strayed from the Lord’s vision. And trusting in our own strength, we make wrong and hasty decisions. So God takes us back to the path of obedience at Moriah.
- Or maybe, like Abraham, we think we’ve put God first and are striving to follow him faithfully. But God knows our hearts, and he tests us on Mount Moriah. “Have you really put me first?” he asks. “Will you give me all?”
Sooner or later – and perhaps many times in our Christian walk – we will find ourselves on Mount Moriah. God’s chosen place of death. Of dying to ourselves, to all we have, and to all that we hold dear.
Moriah costs, and costs dearly. But it is also a path to endless blessing and a place of rich provision. And still today, God provides all we need to keep following him. But we need to watch for loopholes!
So Abraham called the name of that place, The Lord will provide; as it is said to this day, ‘On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.’
Genesis 22:14
📷 Image credits: woman prays; pink mts; yellow mts
Signora Sheila 