Faith and the Obedient Heart

I was recently reading the Bible in the morning and I was reading about Abraham and Isaac.

The story was about Abraham being commanded to sacrifice Isaac, his only son. Abraham didn't appear to even hesitate.

He took his son and went to where God told him and had complete confidence. Isaac, was old enough to know something was wrong because he asked Abraham where the sacrifical animal was. Abraham responded

“God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Gen 22:8 (HCSB)

I always thought this was the standard "dad type answer" because he didn't want to tell his son "You are the sacrifice". But, then I noticed that this came immediately after Abraham addressed the servants with him.

Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and
I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.”
Gen 22:5 (HCSB, emphasis is mine)

Although at this point, Abraham's intention is to go and kill Isaac as a sacrifice to God, Abraham seems to have no doubt that Isaac would be coming back with him.

Did Abraham remember the Words of God from earlier?

"But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him
Isaac. I will confirm My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for
his future offspring." Gen 17:19-20 (HCSB)

Abraham displayed a lot of faith in the Word of God from Genesis 17. Isaac would be the covenant son. This faith told him that Isaac wouldn't be sacrificed.

Wow, I see the story, I read the promises of God. But as a daddy myself, how hard must it have been for Abraham to take that journey. The one and only son that he had... that he loved more than life itself... so ready to sacrifice it at the command of God. To trust that somehow, somewhere along the trip, God was going to stop him. Not only stop him, but provide a substitute so the sacrifice would take place. My own personal thoughts are that in this case God didn't necessarily want a sacrifice. The sacrifice that God wanted from Abraham was an obedient heart. He wanted Abraham to be willing to sacrifice everything for the name of God, nothing to be held back in reserve. The animal sacrifice was simply the method used to demonstrate Abrahams Faith and his Obedient Heart.