bible

A Quick Answer

/ hislight / Leave a comment

In Genesis 24, we find Abraham getting much older in age and being blessed by the Lord in all that he did. So he calls for a servant to come over and makes the servant promise to God that he will find a wife for his son Isaac from their home country and not from the land that they were staying in. In addition to that, the servant needed to bring the wife back to Isaac, because he could not go into the land of the old country.

The servant made the promise, then took ten camels and went on a journey to the place where Abraham had come from. When the servant arrived in that land in the evening, he had the camels kneel by a well and he prayed that the Lord would reveal Isaac’s wife to the servant. He prayed that the young woman who was to marry him would offer the servant some water from the well and offer to water his camels as well.

Before the servant even finished his prayer, Rebekah came by and did just that. The servant saw that she was beautiful and that she was unwed, but he remained quiet as he sought confirmation from God to make sure that this was indeed Isaac’s wife.

Once he knew for sure, the servant gave Rebekah some gold bracelets and a nose ring and asked Rebekah who her family was and if he could stay with them. Rebekah took the servant to meet her family and let him know that they had lodging for his camels too. Her family invited the servant into the house to eat and tell of his journey. After he finished telling them his story, Rebekah’s father and brother told the servant that she could go with him to be Isaac’s wife. The servant worshipped God for his prayers had been answered.

The servant stayed with them that night, then got up early in the morning ready to go. Rebekah’s brother tried to delay the servant saying that Rebekah would go with him in 10 days, not immediately. The servant was not having it with the foolishness, so they called Rebekah out to ask her what she thought. She said that she would go with the servant that day, so she left that day with her maids.

Isaac was out meditating in a field near his home when he saw the camels coming towards him. He got up and went to meet them. The servant told Isaac of all that had happened, then Isaac took Rebekah as his wife and he loved her. He found comfort in his wife after his mother’s death.

What I find encouraging here is God’s faithfulness to answer prayers. The servant had a task to do and instead of just doing it on his own with his own way of thinking, he turned to the Lord in prayer. He knew that God’s ways were better than his. And you know what? God brought an answer to him before his prayer was even done.

God loves to hear from His children in prayer and loves to answer those prayers. Sometimes it is a quick answer like for the servant, and sometimes it takes years and years for the answer to appear like with God’s promise to give Sarah and Abraham a son. Be encouraged in prayer knowing that God will answer you. Weather quickly or slowly, just trust that God loves you and the answer is on the way.

Loss & Hope

/ hislight / Leave a comment

In Genesis 23, we learn that Sarah, Abraham’s wife, has died at the age of 127. She lived a good long life and got to see her son, that she birthed at 90, grow up to be a man. She saw the promises of God fulfilled, even when it seemed impossible. Even though she didn’t live a perfect life, she lived a good life following after the Lord.

Abraham went to his neighbors and asked them if he could buy some land to bury his dead. Remember that he was a foreigner in that place as God had called him much earlier (before Isaac, before Sodom and Gomorrah) to leave his homeland and move away from his family. The neighbors all thought favorably of Abraham, noting his good reputation, and offered the best of their land to him for free.

Abraham was honored but offered to pay for a field and a cave to bury Sarah. He wanted to guarantee the legal rights to the land, understanding that while it was in the land God had promised him and his descendants in Cannan, God had not given him the land yet. Ephron, one of the neighbors, spoke up publicly and insisted that Abraham take the land for free. After some back and forth, Abraham finally got Ephron to accept a price for the land and cave, giving Abraham and his descendants the legal deed to the land.

While Abraham was mourning Sarah and dealing with all that goes into burying a loved one, the hope of God’s promise was not lost on him. Abraham still held on to the promises of God for his life and the lives of his lineage and acted rightly as he mourned.

Hope can still live even in the midst of great loss. God’s promises are not limited to a specific person or thing, for our hope is in Him and His Word. So be encouraged, even when you face loss. God is still there moving you into position to be ready to take up your promises when the time is right.

Obedience is Key

/ hislight / Leave a comment

In Chapter 22 of Genesis, God wanted to see where Abraham’s heart was, so He asked Abraham to take the thing that he loved most, his promised son, and offer him as a burnt offering. Now this had to have seemed crazy because the Lord did not call for human sacrifice as some other foreign nations had practiced. That was not part of His plan, it was not how he operated or asked for sacrifices to be, so it must have seemed odd that God would all of a sudden ask for this. And to ask for it for the son that He had promised Abraham. To ask Abraham to sacrifice the very thing he had been waiting YEARS, if not a lifetime to get, must have been a hard thing to grasp. Even though it did not make sense, Abraham knew the Lord’s voice, he had seen God come through and keep His promises, and Abraham had seen what happens to nations that were disobedient and pursued evil acts (we’re looking at you Sodom and Gomorrah!), so Abraham packed up what was needed and took his son Isaac up towards the mountain to make a burnt offering to the Lord.

After three days of traveling, Isaac spoke up and basically said “Hey dad… are we missing something? I see the things to make a fire and an alter, but where is the offering? How is this thing going to work?” Isaac must have been used to burnt offerings and alters as they were probably a normal part of his family’s life, so he knew there should have been a lamb with them for this sacrifice, but a lamb he did not see and that must have been peculiar. Abraham told his son not to worry because God would provide an offering. I cannot begin to imagine what was going through either of their minds as they traveled together on this journey.

Once they had gotten to the spot that the Lord had told them to go, Abraham built an alter and laid his son down on it, ready to make the sacrifice. Before anything happened, an Angel of the Lord spoke from heaven to say “STOP!”. The angel told Abraham that he had been faithful, that he feared the Lord and was obedient. Then Abraham saw that there was a ram in the bush right by them to use as an offering and Abraham knew that the Lord had provided.

Then the Angel called to Abraham again and said that he was blessed and that God would multiply his descendants like the stars in the sky and that his lineage would possess the cities of his enemies. All of this was because Abrahma was obedient even when it did not make sense.

God gives us many things in life: gifts, blessings, skills, talents, jobs, friend, family, resources, etc. How would we respond if He told us to sacrifice those things? To give them up freely, with no promise of a return? God is the one who gave them to us in the first place, and as Abraham tells us, He is a God of provision. He is also the God of all creation, He literally made everything that exists – including you and me. Would He not call us to do something if it was not good for us?

Be encouraged, God loves you! And if He asked you to do something that seems impossible, that does not make sense, that might even be a little scary (or A LOT scary), remember that He will meet you in that place and will provide all that you need every step of the way. Listen for His voice and trust when you hear it.