SCRIPTURE: Genesis (NIV) 22:11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” 13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”
OBSERVATION: In obedience to God’s command, Abraham had taken his son, Isaac, to the mountain designated by God to sacrifice him to the Lord. This was the son they had hoped for and prayed for through many years of Sarah’s barrenness. This was the son God had promised. This was the son God had given them. Was Abraham willing to sacrifice something so precious and special? Did Abraham hold God in even higher regard than he did his own son?
The answer was YES. And as Abraham was beginning the action, God stopped him and there in the thicket they saw a ram which was then sacrificed in the place of Isaac. What relief and joy must have flooded the heart of this 100+ year old father!!!
APPLICATION: What God speaks to my heart through this passage, is that God is faithful to provide for me when I am faithful to do as He says. My obedience and God’s provision are strongly tied together. My obedience gives me confidence that I please God as well as brings joy to God in accomplishing His will. It makes Him kindly disposed towards me.
This ministry of SOAP is a modern example of this. SOAP was not something I was excited to do. But it was clearly God telling me to write SOAPs. The sacrifice of my way of doing my daily devotions in no way compares to Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, but the miraculous provision sometimes overwhelms me as the ram in the thicket surely did Abraham.
PRAYER: Lord, when I know that I am doing your will, I know I can count on you for the needed provision. Your provision may come through a job I can do for which I will receive a paycheck (like driving a school bus). It may come through the work of my hands (like planting a garden or harvesting fruit trees). It may come like manna from heaven or a money gift through the mail. But however you provide, it comes in response to my faith and it is received with thanksgiving and praise. Amen
Pastor Leon
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