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Much can be said of the prophet Abraham. He was a man who remained very faithful to the Lord despite the many trials he faced. He was obedient to God even when God's commandments seemed strange or contradictory. A lot can be learned from the story of Abraham and his family. This is why his story is one of my personal favorites in the Bible.
As Sarah was barren, she and Abraham could not conceive a child. They went far into their old age without baring a child. They desperately wanted to bear children and prayed endlessly for it.Eventually the Lord obliged to give them a son. his name was Isaac. Sarah acually laughed with joy when told she would bare a son, saying, "Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?"
She of course received a very poignant answer: "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" --Genesis 18:11-14
Thus, the birth of Isaac was no small thing. The child Abraham and Sarah had desired all these years was granted unto them at an improbable age, their prayers answered and patience rewarded. 
Years later, an angel commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, his miracle son, to honor the Lord. Obviously this must have seriously tested Abraham's  faith. He new for a fact that the Lord disapproved of Human sacrifice. Abraham himself had been spared by the Lord as a young man, when he was nearly sacrificed upon the altar of the wicked priest of Elkenah.
Though he loved his son with all his heart, Abraham new that he owed everything to his God. Everything. So , with a nevertheless heavy heart, Abraham exemplified a spirit of obedience, demonstrating that when the Lord commands, we act.. Abraham and Isaac rode to the land of Moriah, and were led by the Lord to a mountain where the sacrifice could take place. Isaac himself carried the wood of his burnt offering, very much paralleling the Savior, who carried his own cross to Golgotha (in the New Testament of the Bible. At this point it is worth noting that Isaac was, logically, in his thirties; the prime of life. Abraham on the other hand, was 100+. It could be argued that Isaac could have easily overpowered Abraham, and escaped. This is not what he did however. Isaac, it seems, willingly submitted to his father and allowed himself to be sacrificed--another parallel to Jesus Christ, who would do the same for His Father. 
As Abraham was just about to slay Isaac, an angel of the Lord appeared, telling Abraham to spare his son. The angel said, "Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me." --Genesis 22:12
At that time, Abraham looked up and saw a ram, stuck by its horns in a thicket. He offered this ram, which the Lord had provided, instead of his son. Abraham named this place Jehovah-jireh, a Hebrew word meaning, "the Lord will see, or provide."
Abraham and Isaac were both greatly blessed for their willingness to sacrifice everything for their Lord. Their obedience to a commandment they were both extremely troubled with is nothing short of legendary. Let us be like them. Obedient to the Lord's commands, even when it is hard.