In verse 2, God asked a hard thing of Abraham. He asked Abraham to take his son, his only son, whom Abraham loved so much to take him to Mount Moriah. Moriah was about 3 days journey from where Abraham and Isaac lived.
Just thinking about the journey may not be so hard even though it would take up to 3 days to journey to the mountain.
Making the journey was not so hard but the hard part was this:
Gen 22:2 "Then He said, "Take now 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 which I shall tell you"
Did Abraham know what he was supposed to do at Mount Moriah from the start? Certainly he did because God told him to offer Isaac, his only son as a burnt offering to Him!
It was a hard thing to do! What struck me was that Abraham did not give excuses. Abraham did not argue with God. He did not say "Why God? Why my only son when you told me that he would be the one who will give me many descendants?"
I wonder how many times I have given excuses to God when He asked me to do some seemingly "hard" things...
Yet Abraham did not give excuses nor did he delay to perform what God had asked of him to do. He journeyed 3 days to Moriah with 2 young men, prepared the wood for the burnt offering and was ready to kill Isaac with the knife in his hand when God called him by name in verses 11 and 12.
Gen 22:11-12
"But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" So he said, "Here I am." And He said, ""Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me"
This is what I felt God spoke to me as I read this story:
First lesson - There are a few things that happen only once for you. One of those things that happen only once for you is your life on this earth. Year after year as you draw closer to the end of your life on earth, you realized that this life will only happen only once for you. What I require of you this - do not withheld your life, your only life, from Me.
This life will only come to you ONCE thus it is as precious to you as Isaac was to Abraham.
Another thing that will happen only ONCE is the time you are living in NOW. Not just the time but also the day, date, hour, minute and second - they will only occur ONCE in your lifetime.
You will never be able to relive Jan 7 2017 again. But if you will give me this day, date, hour (and all that makes it up the composite called time), you will be able to REDEEM it.
Remember one speaker who said that prayer is not a waste of time but prayer will actually give you back more time! Thus use your time to serve Me faithfully while you are living in this life - do not withheld this from Me.
In this context, I felt the Lord was speaking to Me to keep my quiet time with Him in the mornings or in the evenings, to memorize and meditate on His Word and to be at the prayer altars in church during the week as much as it is possible for me to be in church.
Yes, it is a hard thing to do if I have had a late night at work and I had to wake up early the next day to prepare myself to go to church for prayer the next day at 6 am. Yet, I have found that whenever I do that, I seem to gain strength for the day, wisdom in my work and a peace that passes all understanding! The blessings that follow such obedience makes the hard things not hard at all!
I seem to sense a protection over my mind and my heart and the storms, stress and emotional entanglements that my boss or my staff may try to put upon at work seems to lose its power over me!
I cannot explain it! It's an exchange of tiredness for His strength, my weariness for His refreshing, my confusion for His clarity and my worries for His absolute peace. I can sense that wall of fire all around me and the glory of God in my midst throughout the day!
Second lesson - Blessing, empowerment, strengthening, help, enablement, grace will be PROVIDED only after I have not withheld the morning hour from God. Indeed His grace and his empowerment will come only after I have passed the test of not withholding the morning hour from Him.
Now don't get me wrong....it's not just about being in church at the prayer altars but it's about giving God that hour to pray and to read His Word. It can be at home, it can be in church, it can be in the office but for me personally I have found it most productive and beneficial if it is in church. It can be in the morning, it can be at night, it can be in the afternoon but for me personally I have found it most beneficial if it is in the morning before the day starts its grind.....
God does not want me to withhold from him the only free time that I can completely focus on Him away from the hustle and bustle of the day before the wheels start moving for me at the start of each new day......
What was the provision that God made for Abraham because he did not withheld Isaac from Him It was a ram for the burnt offering!
Did Abraham really know about this before he even took Isaac to Moriah or at anytime during the 3 day journey or even when Isaac asked his father the question - "Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Did Abraham know about the ram in the thicket when he responded in verse 8 "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering"?
I do not know (and I am sure that it does not matter) but I do believe that Abraham trusted in God and had faith in Him as a God who loves him and as a God who will be able to provide Abraham many descendants whether with or without Isaac!
Abraham may be thinking that if God ask me to do this He will surely find a way to fulfil His promise to me with our without my only son. Such was his confidence and trust in God!
God sometimes test us to see whether we will obey and it's only after we have taken the first step of faith, He comes in to help us in our journey of obedience. Blessings always follow obedience. Blessings follow our sacrifice. Blessings follow an act of hardship (may seem hard initially but it will become easy in the end after we have taken the step of faith).
Verse 14 "And Abraham called the name of the place, the Lord will provide; as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided"
Third lesson - Blessings will follow us when we do not withheld our life, our time, money, resources, gifts or talents from God.
Verse 16 - 18 "By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son - blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed My voice"
Today at Peacehaven, I believe that God had spoken to each of us individually on the things that He does not want us to withhold from Him for 2017.
Our instructions or obedience tests may be different due to our current spiritual walk with God but I do believe that God is asking us to take small steps of faith.
To some He may be asking to wake up early to go for morning prayer (first watch), to some He may be asking to go for corporate prayer, to some He may be saying be early in church yet to some He may be saying join a life group.....
To me He is saying wake up early, go for the 6 am watch (even if you have had a late night at work), read the Bible in the office even if you can't read it at home (since you are early at work anyway), find a way around the late nights....I WILL PROVIDE THE GRACE & THE STRENGTH!
AMEN!
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