Can you imagine the scene in your
life? Remember, it's not like Abraham was unsuccessful at the time he was
called. God says "Bob, I have great plans for you. I am going to bless you
abundantly. But first you have to pack up your life and move to
All Scripture is inspired by God and is
useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our
lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to
prepare and equip his people to do every good work. -- 2Timothy 3: 16-17 (NLT)
God will never contradict His
Word. He is not a man that He would change His mind. If He said it, He meant
it. The Bible is very clear --He wants and expects obedience. That is what
Abraham first showed God when he obeyed him and left everything behind with
nothing more than a Word from God.
The second lesson here is that
sometimes we need to leave our current situation in order to find the next
level God has for us. Could God have blessed Abraham where he was? Of course!
He is God. But He wanted the obedience first. Sometimes we can get too
comfortable in our walk. Our service unto God can become mundane or routine. We
can feel like we are working for the Kingdom but God may have a whole new level
of blessing for us waiting in another land. A foreign land to us. A land where
we will need to rely upon Him even more. Complacency is a slow poison to
progress. It is like acid eating away at our desire and drive to seek God. We
can settle into doing church instead of living for Christ. Heaven forbid.
The other definitive moment in the life of Abraham came decades later. The child of promise Isaac had been given as promised to Abraham and Sarah in their old age. And like blind obedience was expected before, this time God was looking for provisional faith:
"Take
your son, your only son--yes, Isaac, whom you love so much--and go to the
What? Let's be honest here. If this
was us the first thing out of our mouths would have been, "huh?" You make me
wait until I am 100 years old to even have Isaac, then watch as he grows up
(Isaac was probably in his 20's at this point) and now you want me to kill him?
But Scripture says that the next morning Abraham got up and headed with Isaac
to
"God will provide a sheep for the burnt
offering, my son," Abraham answered. And they both walked on together. --
Genesis 22: 8 (NLT)
