- Genesis 22 Daily DEVO But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” Genesis 22:11 – Compare this verse with me with verse 1…After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”(22:1) Sounds quite similar right? Know though while the wording is the same, the settings are far different. In verse one Abraham replies to the Lord with “Here I am” right after God blesses him with Isaac and peace with his enemies. In verse 11 Abraham replies to the Lord with “Here I am” right as he is about to sacrifice Isaac on account of what God commanded him to do. We see Abraham being available to God in the time of blessing and in the times of sad sacrifice. So too should we be. If we only are available to listen and be used by God when He’s blessing us that’s not right. Even if we don’t understand the struggle we’re going through, that’s not reason enough to refuse to listen and be used by God. Let’s learn to be open to God when times are good and when times are bad. Let’s have the same attitude as Abraham where whether we are in a time of blessing or sacrifice, if God calls on us our reply is, “Here I am.” I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 502
- When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Genesis 22:9 – When you start to look at the ages of both men here the scene begins to change. Abraham was 100 years old and many scholars believe Issac to be in his 20’s. So a hundred year old guy is overpowering a 20 something and is able to bind him and place him on this altar? Granted we don’t have all the details here, but the most likely scenario is that Issac helped out his dad with this. Rather than fighting against his father because he didn’t understand why he was about to go through the pain in front of him, he faithfully followed his father. Often we too can get a glimpse of what could come up in our story if we say yes to God and it can be overwhelming and confusing. There we see though the substance of our faith. Do we still follow when the next step is overwhelming and confusing or do we fight and try to escape? Notice here Issac comes through this whole scene, so will you. Yes, maybe on the other side your story will look very different, maybe even heavenly different, but saying “Here I Am, Lord” whenever God speaks to you is always your best choice. For God’s glory and your blessing. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1826
- Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” Genesis 22:5 – In this chapter, God directs Abraham to sacrifice his only son as a burnt offering. Abraham submits to the overwhelmingly difficult command and proceeds with the process. He himself prepares the wood and donkeys, travels three days to the sacrifice location, and even carried the knife himself that he planned to plunge into his own son to follow the Lord’s command. Yet in this verse it seems like Abraham knew something was up, for he said to his servants that he and the boy would go and then come again. Did Abraham plan on not going through with this? Did he know what was going to happen? No, he didn’t know what was going to happen. We see clearly he was ready and planning on going through with the sacrifice. So why did he phrase the verse above like he did, making it clear that he and the boy would return? Abraham didn’t know God’s plan, but he knew God’s promise. God clearly promised that Abraham would have a nation come from him and Isaac was the one to begin all that. Abraham knew that if God promised He would do something, then God would do it. Maybe God would change His mind, maybe God would raise Isaac from the dead after the sacrifice…Abraham didn’t know the plan, but He would be faithful to his God that was always faithful to His promises. So when God asks of us to move in an overwhelmingly difficult way, let us be willing to be faithful even when we don’t see how the whole picture plays out. Trust in the promises that God has made to you throughout scripture and rest in the fact that He has never once in all of history failed to keep His promise. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2828
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