Day 5 - Genesis 19-22
Genesis 22 - Abraham Tested
In Genesis 22 Abraham is tested. That is the title of the chapter "Abraham Tested". Such a short descriptor for such heavy stuff going on in this chapter. Abraham's test... sacrifice his son. And this is just a test. This was God's way of finding out if Abraham truly feared Him. My how things have changed. Today, if someone said God is testing them and they have to sacrifice their son, they would be locked up in a mental ward! Shoot, most of the visions those in the Bible talk of seeing being the Lord are "lock up" worthy things in this day and age. That aside, Abraham passes this test because he gets his son to were the sacrifice was suppose to take place, builds an alter, and has Isaac tied to the alter ready for sacrifice. Wow, talk about fear of the Lord and because Abraham passed this test, instead of Isaac, a bull was sacrificed. I can't imagine being Abraham with his son on the alter ready to kill his son, heavy. Now I know we do a lot of things different then they did then. When was the last time we sacrificed something living on an alter at church? We don't. our sacrifices for the Lord are much different now. Now we sacrifice "things of the world". We sacrifice our "normalcy". Ultimately we sacrifice those things we have, enjoy, want, etc that keep us from the Lord. Those things which give us temporary pleasure for the possibility of eternal joy. Seems like a no brainer... "Ladies and Gentlemen, behind door #1 we have 30 minutes of pleasure and behind door #2 we have eternal joy! Which do you choose?" Again, seems like an obvious choice, but so many times we choose door #1. Why do we make the eternal sacrifice? Shouldn't we want eternal joy? Aren't the statistics saying eternal is way longer and more than 30 minutes? Yes everything says that we should choose door #2, but because of our instant gratification society, we want the joy and pleasure NOW! However, it is that instant gratification that is causing so many of us to sacrifice our eternal joy and those wonderful mansions on the streets of gold that are waiting for us for the shacks we have here on earth.
When I first started reading this I was thinking of on TV when they say "This is only a test" with a loud noise. I thought to myself, hmmm, sometimes that is how I think about the testing that God gives me. If I just wait it out and be annoyed for a while then the test will just MOVE on. But that is not how God wants us to be when he is giving us a test. I mean he declares he will never give us more then we can handle and with testing comes perseverance.
ReplyDeleteGood thoughts Sissy. I am encouraged by you today!
Love you!
That is a great point Sister! Tests don't pass as quickly as they come like the TV tests. Wouldn't that be interesting. Love you!
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