Monday, February 16, 2009

Today's Passage: Genesis 22

Some test?!? I realize now that prior to my daughter being born every time someone tried to explain to me how much a parent loves their child, I really didn't understand. But now that my little girl is almost a year old I don't know what I would do if she was taken from me. As I read this story it challenged every ounce of parental instinct that I have. I can't even begin to imagine the internal struggle that Abraham must have been going through. After everything that he and Sarah had been through, to have God place this challenge, that to the best of Abraham's knowledge was a death sentence for Isaac, in front of him...it must have been gut wrenching.

Ultimately we read this story and see that God did this to make sure that Abraham had learned his lesson about following God's instructions exactly. We as believers face this same challenge everyday. It is one that I would have to admit I fail at more than I would like. The challenge is simply this: We may hear from God a specific direction to go and choose to follow it, but somewhere along the way we begin to doubt. We question whether God's goal is the best goal or whether the path that we are on is leading to the goal that God has revealed to us. Every time we do this we end up taking things into our own hands and messing them up.

Abraham's example is one of a strong man that had learned this lesson well before this test. He showed great dependence and faith in the Lord and in return he was rewarded. I pray that this story would help us to have the faith to simply follow God's directions, one step at a time.