The TV show Father Knows Best was a little before my time.  I know hard to believe but it was.  I have only seen the show a couple of times, and am not really that familiar with the plot line, but I have always been intrigued by the title.  Generally speaking fathers know a lot; I know my father has dispensed some sage advice on a number of occasions.  That is one of the aspects of fatherhood that we are celebrating today, on Father’s Day, as we honor our fathers for all that they are and all that they do; wisdom and knowledge being among those attributes.  But the idea that Father knows best is a little daunting if you ask me.  How is it that Father always knows best?  When is that knowledge dispensed?  I have to tell you I have been at this father thing a little over a year now and I am not sure I always know best.  Often I find myself in situations that leave me wondering even scrambling for what to do and I question if what I know and what I do based on what I know is best. 

            For instance this weekend I had a plan.  We were going to go to Pennsylvania to attend my Dad’s surprise retirement dinner.  This all came about rather quickly, we hadn’t planned to go out that direction for some time, but I thought this would all work out rather conveniently because not only would we get to celebrate with Dad, but there are some things at my parents’ house that I wanted to bring home but didn’t want to make a special trip just to get them.  It would also work out well, I thought, because Mom had planned to come out and watch Andrew while Vacation Bible School was in session. So the plan was we would take the truck, rent a u-haul trailer, and bring mom and things back with us.

            Everything started out according to my plan.  We got there alright, without dad knowing so that he was surprised to see us at the dinner.  That is everything was going according to my plan until yesterday morning when I went to pick up the trailer and the truck didn’t want to start first thing in the morning.  After a couple of tries it did and we got to the u-haul dealership all right.  My plans for picking up the trailer quickly and getting on the road early were soon dashed.  There were issues with equipment that took time to correct and involved us switching trailers.  During this whole process the truck started acting up again.  I figured the problem was likely moisture related, due to all the rain the previous night and that once we got things hooked up and once I could get the truck out on the highway that all would be good.  I was wrong.  The truck died and I couldn’t get it started.  I knew of a couple of things I could try to get it running again and over the course of a couple of hours I tried them and nothing worked.  Did I mention that it was raining much of the time this comedy of errors was going on?  The guys at the u-haul dealership, which conveniently was also a car repair shop, were very helpful and kind during all of this.  Knowing I am a minister though they would ask things like can’t you do something about this rain?  Each time we tried a new fix they would say you better pray this works.  When it was resolved that the truck was not going to move and that on Monday (tomorrow) it would have to towed to a different garage to be fixed, and that now most of my well laid plan had a giant hole blown right through the middle of it one of the guys asked me if my middle name was Job. 

            In that situation I didn’t feel as if I knew best.  I knew I still had some options on how to get home but in my mind none of them were ideal because none of them were according to my plan.  I have to say the thought did cross my mind, what is God trying to tell me with all of this?  Was God trying to test me?  I mean after all I am a fairly religious man and I really didn’t need all of this.  And I was just trying to get home so that I could do God’s work and come and preach this sermon.  I really could have done without all the road blocks.  But as it was God’s plan wasn’t to be my plan.  Maybe I didn’t know best and in the final analysis there were things that were beyond my control at work here and all I could do is trust that God would some how see me through. 

            That sounds way more faithful on my part than it really was because though I felt like I had a mountain of trouble it wasn’t as if I had to pray that God would some how provide a car for me to get home, say that I would just find a car stuck in a bush somewhere; I knew all along that there were two cars sitting in my parents driveway.  I knew that it may not be according to my plan, or even my time schedule, but some how I was going to get home.  During all of this, and especially knowing I had this sermon to write, I couldn’t help but wonder how Abraham must have felt as he and Isaac were headed up the mountain in the passage we read a few moments ago.  I am pretty sure I know how Isaac felt, nervous, hence his question “Um father, you know we seem to have everything we need for the sacrifice except for one big important thing, the sacrifice.  Where is the animal father?  We really should have an animal with us.”  I am sure that as they were climbing that mountain Isaac was nervous and he probably didn’t think that father knew best.  I doubt also he was buying into that whole “Don’t worry son, God will provide the lamb” story.  But I have to wonder what Abraham was thinking?  I think we tend to think Abraham was crazy, especially reading this text on father’s day a day when we honor and celebrate fathers for all the good and loving things they do, we tend to think, how could he?  How could any father take his only son and sacrifice him?  Was he some kind of sick monster or something?  I don’t think so.  I think we have to remember that Abraham was just following orders.  Of course want to say well that is no excuse orders or not, but we have to remember who gave those orders and we have to remember also the relationship that had been built between Abraham and God by this point. 

            I have heard it said many times, especially recently for some reason, that grand children are God’s way of rewarding you for not killing your children.  The challenging nature of childrearing aside I don’t think Abraham delighted one bit in the thought of sacrificing his only son.  So I doubt Abraham was happy at the thought of loosing his son following what God told him to do.  I think it is not too much of a stretch to think perhaps the reason Abraham rose early that morning was because he couldn’t sleep knowing what God had asked him to do; knowing he was put in a position of choosing between sacrificing his only son and loosing this one he loved or disobeying God whom he loved also.  Abraham surely knew that killing Isaac wasn’t right, and surely it didn’t sit well with him, but God essentially told Abraham, ignore what you know to be true and right and follow me.  Leave behind your own selfish motives and desires and follow me.  I doubt in that situation that Abraham felt like he knew best at that moment, and he may have even wondered if God knew best.  I imagine all the way up the mountain Abraham hoped against hope that some how that dumb thing he told Isaac to get Isaac to go along with all of this, that thing about “God will provide the lamb” surely all the way up the mountain Abraham hoped that some how that would be true but feared it would not and that he would actually have to follow through with God’s plan.  Abraham was obedient to God all the way along even to the point of raising the knife in the air, and God looked upon all of this and said now I know that you fear me, and fear may not be the best word choice here because what we are really talking about is reverence and obedience to the point of holding nothing back from God.

            I think what we are really talking about is faith, which is putting our full and complete trust in God and following where God leads us even when it seems a little crazy and is not entirely to our liking.  Faith is trusting that God will provide even when we are hoping against hope, not really feeling sure about God’s provision, but trusting God none the less.  Abraham likely didn’t fully believe his own words to Isaac about God providing but he did trust God enough to go along with this crazy plan and in the end God did provide and so that place is called “The Lord will provide.”  I think that is what we ought to take from this passage of scripture today that “the Lord will provide” a concept that we call providence and happens to be one of the larger points in our Presbyterian Theology.  Trusting in God’s providence is easy when God gives us what we want, but as illustrated in Abraham’s case providence isn’t always easy, trusting that God will provide even when things aren’t going according to my plan, but trusting any way that some how God has a plan and that in the end things will work out for the best. 

            In the case of my weekend things didn’t go according to my plan but I did trust that they would work out.  I don’t mean to trivialize the concept of providence by using the illustration of my truck breaking down; I mostly share that story to draw your sympathy, and know that in the grand scheme of things it can only be described as a minor inconvenience.  Trusting in God’s providence draws us much deeper than that.  Watching the news Thursday night I saw an interview with one of the Boy Scouts that survived the tornado in Iowa and he said something to the effect of “God kept me here for a reason, and that is something I will never forget as I live the rest of my life.”  That to me is trusting in God’s providence.  At the same time I am sensitive to how hollow and trite that must sound to the parents whose boys were killed in that same tornado who are likely wondering why their son was killed and others spared.   Trusting in God’s providence often gets difficult and I hope and pray that even those parents who lost a son in that terrible tragedy will find a way that they can trust God to get them through this time of grief and will find a way to put their trust fully in God yet again, even as I pray we all find a way to put our trust in God and be faithful.  I know that I don’t always know best, even now that I am a father I still don’t always know best, but I know who does; the one Jesus called Father.  So knowing I don’t know best I do my best to put my trust in the one who does.  It isn’t always easy but by the grace of God I pray that I would have the faith even as I pray that each of you would have the faith to trust always in God’s providential care.  Amen.