Friends, it’s so important for us to trust the Lord, even in the most difficult of situations. Today we see the example of fully, 100% trusting in God through Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac. Today, let’s be moved to trust in God’s plan in every way. Look for signs of His work in your life and surrender to God’s will.
We’ll find all of this in Genesis 22. Here we go.
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Transcription:
If you place everything in your life in the hand of God, you are going to see God’s hand in everything. It’s the Bible for Busy People. I’m Erica, your host. God’s Hand is working in your life, in the lives of those you love. I was just thinking about my daughter. She’s moving out. Did I tell you? All the feels. But I remember when she was born and thinking, this is the only time in my life where God has ever really physically handed me something. Like, here I’m giving her to you. And then it was just a few months later when I had the honor and the privilege of handing Hannah back to the Lord when my husband and I dedicated her, and she was in that beautiful little gown, and she wasn’t a fan of shoes, so her little piggies were sticking out the bottom, and I remember placing her in Pastor Laranze’ hands and thinking, wow, this is significant.
If you’re a parent, that over time you wind up giving your children back to God over and over, we have a way of saying, “Lemme just hold them here for a second,” but they are safest in his hands. Today, you and I are going to study the life of a father who was asked to do the unthinkable by God. Now I promise you, it’s got a really good ending and there is so much hope, so much we can learn and glean from this passage in scripture today. So join me now in the book of Genesis chapter 22, beginning in verse one.
Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called. “Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.” 2 “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.”
Okay, let’s pitch a tent here for a hot second. That’s hard to imagine. God asking Abraham to do this. Are you familiar with the story? Abraham and Sarah longed for a child and God told them that they would have a son together, but Sarah was 90 and Abraham was a hundred when Isaac came along. Think of how long they waited and yearned for this child. It makes this story all the more mysterious, but it doesn’t make God any less trustworthy. Let me explain. There is a priceless diamond in the very black mind of this story. It’s a foreshadowing of the greatest story ever told. God the Father, letting go of his only son and allowing Jesus to come and die for us so that we could live forever; so that we could be in right relationship with God again. So, keep that in mind as you and I continue this dramatic story. In Genesis. We’re picking it up in verse three.
The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the servants. “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.”
Do you hear the faith in that statement? Abraham is trusting the Lord. Okay, verse six now.
So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together, 7 Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”
Listen so closely to how Abraham answers Isaac…
“God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together.
God will provide such hopeful words. We’ll come back to that in a moment. Okay. Verse nine.
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. 10 And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. 11 At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!” 12 “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.” 13 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. 14 Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”).
Praise God, right?
To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
Wow. Abraham trusted God. He obeyed him. I can’t imagine what the walk up Mount Moriah was like, and I’m guessing that there is a Mount Moriah in your life. God is asking you to trust him as you walk up the mountain that he is going to provide for you in this situation. Sometimes you and I just have to close our eyes and let go of our own understanding and then open our eyes and look for the ram. Look out for God to do a work in our lives. He wants to provide for us in these messy situations we find ourselves in. There’s an old hymn called Trust and Obey, and I want to read a few words of it as we close out our time together today.
Oh, trust and obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. And t’is so sweet to trust in Jesus. Just to take him at his word, just to rest upon His promise, just to know, thus sayeth the Lord. Jesus, Jesus. How I trust him, how I’ve proved Him over and over Jesus. Jesus. Precious Jesus. Oh, for grace to trust him more.
You see, trusting and obeying, letting go, letting God… they go hand in hand. If you are trusting him in a difficult situation, you’re walking up your own Mount Moriah right now. Remember, you can trust the Man who died for you. The Lord will provide. He’s still providing. Until next time, you are loved.
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