Sometime later, God tested Abraham's faith.
"Abraham!" God called.
"Yes," he replied. "Here I
am."
"Take your son, your only son—yes Isaac,
whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a
burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you." …
 |
Come count the grains of sand on the beach.
|
"God will provide a sheep for the burnt
offering, my son," Abraham answered. And they both walked on together.
When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an
altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on
the altar on top of the wood. ... Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught
by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt
offering in place of his son. Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means
"the LORD will provide"). To this day, people still use that name as
a proverb: "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided."...
I
will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond
number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your
descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. And through your
descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have
obeyed me." Genesis 22:1-2, 8-9, 13-14, 17-18
God had already promised that He would give
Abraham a son and many descendants. Now Abraham has his son and God is testing
him by asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Human sacrifice was practiced in some
cultures during Abraham’s time, although God did not approve of murder—as we read in the example of Cain killing his brother Abel. God had taught His
followers not to take the life of individuals. Later cleansing of the territory
and thus, war, was not only acceptable to God, but was required by God to
purify the Promised Land. The test now for Abraham was to sacrifice his promised son. Does this remind you of another son given as a sacrifice...for our sin...on a cross?
Sacrifice. We see trust and deep obedience both
in Abraham, giving up his only son, and in Isaac, being bound as the sacrifice.
God recognizes the obedience in these men and rewards them by providing a ram,
caught in the brush. Abraham knew that God was going to bless him and the world
through this son, Isaac. …Sarah, your
wife, will give birth to a son for you. You will name him Isaac, and I will
confirm my covenant with him and his descendants as an everlasting covenant.
Genesis 17:19. Did Abraham have such a deep faith and trust God that he
thought that God would raise Isaac from the sacrificial altar back to life? We see
things differently and understand resurrection in the way that we know Jesus
was resurrected. Abraham passed his test—and Isaac’s life was spared. And God promised...I will...bless you and give you more descendants that stars and sand, because of your obedience.
Does God test us when He has given us a
promise?
Prayer
~ Lord God, show us Your will for our lives as clearly as You showed Abraham
that ram in the bushes. Provide a way out…The temptations in our lives are no
different from what others experience. And You are faithful, God. You will not
allow the temptation to be more than we can stand. When we are tempted, You
will show us a way out so that we can endure. 1 Corinthians 10:13.
Bible
Reading: January 19 – Genesis 22-24
©
2017 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.
All
scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted
www.blueletterbible.org/dailyreading
No comments:
Post a Comment