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Day 44 – Genesis 22:14

“So Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide. And it is said to this day, On the mount of the Lord it will be provided.”
Genesis 22:14 Amplified

Abraham’s journey is one we love to talk about. But we would rather not have to walk a road anything like his. We want the blessings of Abraham without the perseverance of Abraham. Yet, he is the perfect example of gratitude with perseverance. Keep in mind that this is not about his perfection, but about continually moving towards God’s heart. He was a friend of God. Is there any higher privilege?

Abraham waits 25 years to see God fulfill the promise in his life for a son. It wasn’t enough that he only sees this fulfilled at the ripe old age of one hundred. But once receiving it, enjoying it for a few years, God calls Abraham to make a journey of sacrifice with the very thing God promised to give him. To the natural mind it does not make sense, but God was testing Abraham and it was producing some very rich fruit in Abraham’s life.

God tells him to take the son of promise and to take him to Mount Moriah, and there sacrifice him on the altar to God. The more I consider this, I realize only a truly grateful man could do that. He understood that God was good. He was grateful for the promise. He was grateful for the son. He was grateful to a God who had already given him far more than he would have had if God had not come through in his life.

Seeing the goodness of God is so crucial to being grateful. If I am convinced of God’s goodness then I can believe that when He asks something of me, it will produce good fruit. If I believe that good fruit is coming, gratitude will be displayed.

We see this in Abraham’s response. He gathers his son, servants, and all that is necessary to begin a three day journey to make the sacrifice. Every step of the way, even though we can be sure the enemy was screaming in his ears, Abraham persevered. He did not turn back, he did not complain and tell God He was being unfair, unjust, and just plain cruel. He persevered, knowing that God’s promise was God’s. Isaac did not belong to Abraham. He belonged to God. Since God was good, whatever the outcome of this was going to be good. God could do nothing less. So, with his heart set, Abraham journeyed to the place of sacrifice.

It is at the place of complete surrender that God comes through. He does not stop Abraham part way up that hill. Nor does He stop him as the altar is being prepared. He waits until the boy is on the altar and the knife is raised. A place of complete trust in a God He was grateful to know as His friend.

Will an ungrateful heart build an altar in obedience? Will an ungrateful heart see the goodness of God in places of surrender? Will an ungrateful heart see that everything that we have, whether for a short duration or for a lifetime, all belong to God? No, only the grateful heart knows that reward. The reward of seeing God provide in a way that only He can.

Today I am grateful that God is always good. When what He asks of me seems to be in opposition to that truth, may I lean hard on His character and not my carnal assessment. May He make me a woman who perseveres because gratitude overflows.

Comments(2)

  1. Reply
    Pat McRae says:

    I read this account today of Abraham and Isaac’s journey to the mountain, and have decided I have a ways to go to display Abraham’s faith 🙁 But then I wondered was it faith that made Abraham believe and trust God’s plan? Or could it be that the years of travelling with God, obeying and disobeying, being faithful and then hiding behind his beautiful wife, he had learned something about God? Had he learned that this request did not fit God’s character? Their relationship was an intimate one, walking and talking with each other, name being changed, and a wife’s deepest longing fulfilled, had these things taught him to obey and ask questions later? Had the years taught him that in God beat a heart of love? After all Isaac was the promised child, the answer to countless prayers and tears. For Abraham and Sarah to have Isaac was humanly impossible, so did he know already that with God all things are possible?
    Those last few moments as Isaac lay on the alter he had helped to build what were the thoughts? As the son he loved more then anything else in this world lay there looking up at him, did he have a tear in his eyes? Or were they still clear and bright, ready to obey? As he drew his hand back what were their last words or was there silence between them? What were they each thinking? Did Isaac complain or just except his life was going be a short one, but it had been a life of much love?
    When the Angel of the Lord stops Abraham I am sure I still hear the sigh and the groan of thanksgiving for God’s mercy 🙂
    Jehovah-jireh provided! Abraham had assured Isaac on the walk to the mountain God would provide and now their eyes caught sight of the provision.
    What an amazing God we serve! His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways.
    I am thankful that although my faith has not reached Abraham’s level of faith, mine is growing, and I am traveling down that road in the right direction. My faith is challenged these days and on occasions I might duck the first request because it doesn’t seem to fit my thinking patterns. Oh I have the excuses lined up, but God does not pull a request until we decide to be obedient. Once I make that decision to obey no matter what, I am rewarded with the knowledge I have pleased my Daddy God.
    If I were to name my home I would call it “Jehovah-Jireh” because God is revealing so much to me these days from His Word! The KJ reads “In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.” They saw a ram, I see the Lover of my soul revealed in new and amazing ways. God is my provider spiritually, physically, financially, emotionally, relationship ways, and in my desires. He is teaching me to not call Him my provider and then go around asking people to provide. He meets my needs and even some of my desires before I ask Him lots of times. But if on occasion He says, “I hear, wait.”, I have learned His timing is perfect and the wait is a good time to build faith and trust in Him.
    Today I am most blessed amongst women, for Jehovah-hired is truly my provider! 🙂

  2. Reply
    Susan Craig says:

    Trust is surrendering our will to God’s will. God does not have to reveal His will in any situation to anyone of us. He is not obligated to provide answers to anyone’s questions. What He chooses to reveal of His will is His perogative-that autonomy is His alone. What He reveals to us humans is on a need to know basis. The secret things belong to the Lord. All these things are very evident in this passage today when God puts Abraham’s faith to the test. Abraham was 100 years old before he received his promised son. Abraham learned patience over those years while he waited for God to deliver on His promise to him. Was Abraham perfect? No he wasn’t. Did he make mistakes? Yes he did. Did he ever get impatient while he waited? Absolutely. Did he understand all God’s plans and ways? No he didn’t. But He was given a promise from God and he clung to that promise for many years-never forgetting the promise that was made and from Whom it came. He was very tenacious and held unto that promise even when it seemed humanly impossible as he got older that it could be fulfilled. Faith is trusting that God can do anything no matter what our human knowledge or understanding can dictate to our minds. If we have faith as small as a grain of mustard seed,we can believe that God can move mountains if He so chooses. I do not know how our vision of God has diminished over time,but I do believe it has. In this age of human reasoning and scientific minds, we have reduced God to being so much smaller than what He truely is. The test of Abraham’s faith as he climbed a mountain with the intent to sacrifice his son on an altar there was one that many of us would fail if the same request was asked of us today. Because to our minds,it seems like a mistake to even ask Abraham to do such a thing. Why would God take away the son He had promised Abraham all those years ago?? It does not make sense to us. But in actuality, that same question is asked of each one of us that are on redemption road. We are asked to lay everything on the altar-all our hopes,our dreams,our lives,our loved ones,our human way of viewing things,our idols-everything needs to be laid down-nothing held back. This test was not just for Abraham-it is for everyone who carries the name of Christian-Christ’s follower. When we are born, we have nothing of our own. Our whole life becomes one of moving forward and reaching for more than what we started with. But no matter how much we have accumulated over our lifetime, there will come a time when we have to let it all go and leave it all behind-everything here is temporary. So the tighter we hold on to things(and people), the harder it will be to let go. The reality of our life is this-it is a vapor that appears for a little while and then it is gone. If God owns everything, and therefore everything belongs to Him, does it not make sense that we should give it all over to Him anyway since we own none of it?? The sooner we realize this fact and the earlier we do this, the better off we will be. Abraham was an enormously wealthy man yet he owned none of it. He would have given it all up in exchange for his son’s life but he was not asked to do that. He was given a promised son, and the reality God was teaching him was that he did not own him either. Isaac was most precious to him of all he had. But he did not own Isaac, God did. PERIOD.
    Therefore since we own nothing, and God owns everything, and God is good all of the time, we must trust that God knows what is best for us. If God chooses to take anything or everything from us, He must have a good reason and we must ultimately trust Him. And if He gives us anything, we must thank Him because we don’t deserve any of it. The question today is, what is most precious to me,to you???? Could it be put on the altar and sacrificed if God asked this of us?? Do not be hasty in your answer-I submit that we really will not know what our answer would be until we are faced with a decision that would take the most precious thing in our lives away from us. May God give us the faith, trust, perseverance, will, strength and ability to obey like Abraham did all those years ago. Lord make me eternally grateful for all your blessings to me and may I never take them for granted or hold unto them so tightly that I would be unwilling to give them up if You choose to take them from me. Lord help me to believe in Your goodness. Lord help me to live in that knowledge every minute. Thank You Lord for All You have blessed me with in this life- for a season, entrusted to me and owned by You alone. May loving You and doing Your Will be the most precious thing to me.
    Trust and obey
    For there’s no other way
    To be happy in Jesus
    But to trust and obey

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