Tested and Provided For

Have you ever been on the verge of making a significant mistake and were stopped just before doing so? How did you feel? Were you initially upset? Did you later realize how big the mistake would have been? Did you thank the person who kept you from making the mistake?

All of us make mistakes. Some of them are bigger than others. We may also experience someone stopping us from making a mistake. Or we may have had someone attempt to stop us and we ignored them. Later, we may have wished we had listened to them.

Abraham was not making a mistake. He had been told by God to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham was being obedient to God as he went to execute the sacrifice. However, just as he was about to plunge the knife into Isaac’s chest, the angel of the Lord stopped him. Abraham was being tested by God to see if he would follow through with God’s command. God ultimately provided a ram to be the sacrifice.

I doubt God will ever test one of us in the same way he tested Abraham. After all, God has never tested another person in that same way in more than three-thousand years. But God does test us. He may specifically put us in a situation to see if we will confess our faith in Jesus. He may ask us to step outside our comfort zones to serve others. We must remember that God provided for Abraham and will provide us with what we need when we need it.

I pray we all choose to follow God in every situation. I pray we trust God during times of testing. I pray each one of us are willing to step out of our comfort zones to serve God’s purposes. Follow God’s guidance. Trust God at all times. Step out of your comfort zone. Serve God.

Genesis 22:12-13 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

Whatever Asked

Are you willing to do whatever God tells you to do? We like to believe we will, don’t we? But will we follow through with it? What will we do if God asks us to do something we do not want to do? What if it sounds absurd to us? Are we willing to trust God knows what he is asking?

We like to think we will do whatever God tells us to do. Yet, when it gets right down to it, we aren’t always willing. When God asks us to do a hard thing, we may balk. It may be a calling to go on a mission trip to a third world country. Or it may be as simple as walking across the street to our neighbor.

When God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son, meaning his son by Sarah, Abraham simply got up and went to do it. Abraham knew that God had promised that he would become a great nation. He knew that Isaac was born to him and Sarah in their old age. It is possible Abraham thought God would raise Isaac from the dead. It’s possible Abraham didn’t understand and maybe thought God had changed his mind. Regardless, Abraham did not question God, he simply went to do what God told him to do.

We sometimes wonder how old Isaac was. We are not told, and the author doesn’t focus on Isaac. However, Jewish tradition is that Isaac was thirty-seven years old. At a minimum, Isaac was old enough to haul the wood for the sacrifice for three days. Yet, Isaac did not resist. He submitted to Abraham. This is a case of two people trusting. Abraham trusted God. Isaac trusted Abraham.

It is safe to say that it is highly unlikely we will ever be called upon by God to sacrifice a child. However, God may call us into ministry, to pray for someone who has wronged us, to give our last ten dollars to someone in need, or simply be still and know he is God. Whatever God is calling you to do, do it.

I pray we all trust God as Abraham trusted him. I pray we will commit to following God’s guidance. I pray each one of us will choose to do what God is calling us to do. Trust God. Follow God’s guidance. Do what God asks you to do.

Genesis 22:2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.”

Searching for Wisdom

Wisdom! Where does it come from? How do we obtain it? Is there a magical pixy dust we can sprinkle to acquire it? Is it something we slowly obtain as we grow older and more experienced? Have you considered that knowledge is not the same as wisdom? Are you seeking wisdom?

Solomon tells his child(ren) to listen to and accept his words. Why? Solomon’s wisdom was a gift from God. There was nothing magical about it. He didn’t merely learn it as he grew older and more experienced. He asked God for wisdom as he became king and God granted it to him.

Solomon states that the result of listening to his words is to understand what it means to fear God. Not being afraid of God but being in awe of him. As we come to understanding, we come to God in awe of his presence, his power, his knowledge of all things, and his creation. As we grow in our awe of God, we realize how much more we can trust him to work in our lives and provide the best for us.

Early in chapter 2 of Proverbs, Solomon tells us to seek out God’s wisdom with everything we have and everything we are. As we do that, we find the knowledge of God, meaning a deeper and more intimate understanding of who God is. That should be a goal for our life. It should be something we strive for. Knowing God and understanding him benefits us in many ways.

I pray we all seek to gain wisdom. I pray we listen to Solomon’s words and accept them as guidance toward achieving wisdom. I pray each one of us will strive for a deep and intimate understanding of who God is. Seek wisdom. Accept wisdom. Seek to understand God.

Proverbs 2:1, 5: 

My child, if you accept my words 

and treasure up my commandments within you,

…

then you will understand the fear of the LORD 

and find the knowledge of God.

Lose to Win

Are you willing to lose to win? Does that sound like an oxymoron to you? Do you think it is a contradictory statement? What if it is true? What if you need to lose, let go, give up, so you can ultimately win? Will you? Will you do what Jesus has told all of us to do?

Losing goes against our competitive culture. We want to win in sports. We want to win in our jobs. Our corporations are continually seeking to win as they compete against one another. We have been taught to compete to win. But winning can also cause us to lose.

I remember being in a guided tour of the Chancellorsville battlefield a few miles from Fredericksburg, VA many years ago. The park ranger who was conducting the tour, and who had studied the civil war extensively, stated his belief was that by winning the battle at Chancellorsville, Lee was ultimately defeated. His reasoning is that Lee became bloodthirsty and chased the Union army to Gettysburg in which Lee lost and ultimately lost the war.

Jesus tells us that we must lose to win. We must lose our life, meaning we give up our preferences, desires, and selfishness. By doing so, we gain our life. Not just a mundane life on this earth but the abundant life Jesus promises. We also gain eternal life. To become who God intends for us to be, we must give up our selfish ways and choose to follow Jesus. It is only by giving up and allowing Jesus to lead the way that we find our true life.

I pray we all choose to lose our lives. I pray we give up our selfish desires. I pray each one of us choose to accept the abundant life Jesus has promised and the eternal life He offers us. Lose your life. Give up your selfish desires. Accept the abundant life. Accept eternal life.

Matthew 10:39 “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”

Panic or Trust

What do you fear? Do you have a fear of heights? Are you afraid of losing your job? Are you afraid of losing your spouse? Do you fear certain animals? Are there people who strike fear in your heart? Do you know you do not need to fear? Are you willing to be courageous?

We wrestle with many fears. There is a name for every type of fear known to humankind. Often, what we are afraid of the most is the unknown or what we do not understand. But we do not have to fear anything or anyone other than God.

Fear is a tool Satan uses to drive a wedge between us and God. He especially uses it when it comes to fearing someone else. Being afraid of someone can cause us to do things we know we shouldn’t. Fear can drive us into a panic and cause us to be irrational. We can lose our sense of judgment and common sense. Logical thinking disappears.

Jesus tells us that we are not to fear anyone. He doesn’t mean we are to be so bold as to be foolish. He means that we are not to allow fear to control us. We are to maintain our wits, think logical, and realize that no one can take away His promise of eternal life. Our fear of Him is to be reverence, respect, and worship.

We have a choice to make. We can allow fear to control us, or we can believe Jesus is in control. Overcoming fear is not easy and can only be done as our faith in Jesus grows deeper. The more we experience Him working in our lives, the deeper our faith will grow. Therefore, we need to open our minds, accept Jesus is in control, and trust Him to do what is best for us.

I pray we all seek to overcome fear. I pray we build our faith by experiencing Jesus. I pray each one of us trust that Jesus is in control, rather than Satan, and know that Jesus will do what is best. Overcome your fear. Experience Jesus. Trust Jesus. Know that Jesus will do what is best.

Matthew 10:28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Free in Jesus

Are you seeking to leave behind your past? Do you want to be a new person? Are you striving to put your history behind you? Are you struggling with old, bad habits or behaviors? Would you like to pursue a new path for your life? Do you know you can?

Many of us have a colorful history full of mistakes, bad decisions, and bad behavior. We may have been negatively influenced by people with bad motives. We may have simply chosen unwisely for ourselves. We may struggle with controlling our emotions or anger.

But we don’t have to continue to live that way. It starts with believing that Jesus died for our sins. It grows with our faith in Him. As our knowledge and belief in Him grows, we commit more fully to Him. The deeper our commitment, the more we allow Him to change us, the further He removes us from our past. We come to realize we no longer need to be enslaved by our old habits and behaviors.

Jesus died on a cross so that we would be set free. That freedom is available to us, if we are willing to give up our old self. We give up our old self as we put our lives into His hands. When we are willing to die to our old selves, we can live in the new life Jesus has provided for us. Though it is a simple decision, it is also a challenging one. Too often we want to hang on to our old habits and behaviors because they are known and comfortable. But Jesus wants us to give them up to start new in Him.

I pray we all know we can walk away from our old life. I pray we know we can start new in Jesus. I pray each one of us will choose to die to our old selves and live in the freedom Jesus provides. Walk away from your old life. Live a new life in Jesus. Live free in Jesus.

Romans 6:6-8 We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, so we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

Addiction and Sin

How many of you have tried to break an addiction on your own? How successful were you? Are you still battling an addiction? Have you considered that something as simple as having one soda a day is an addiction? What about your morning coffee? How can you kick them?

We have more addictions than we think we do. Having a morning cup (or more) of coffee is a widespread addiction. Drinking only bottled water is an addiction, despite claims made otherwise. Even going to bed at a specific time can be an addiction.

Not all addictions are bad. However, we need to acknowledge addictions rather than pawning them off as routines, if we are negatively impacted when we can no longer have our addiction. On the other hand, there are bad addictions that have a negative, or extremely negative, impact on our lives. Drugs. Alcohol. Pornography. Lying. Cheating. Hoarding. Gluttony. All are harmful addictions and we typically cannot overcome them on our own. We need help!

The Apostle Paul writes to all of these when he asks if we should continue to sin. His question includes the grace of God. He has just explained that God’s grace is boundless and asks if we should continue in our sin so grace abounds even more. The answer is: of course not! Yet, we too often continue in our sin. We continue to choose to do what we want rather than what God wants.

We cannot break the hold sin has on us on our own. We need Jesus. We need God’s Spirit working inside us. We need to be on our knees asking God to remove our desire to sin from us. Why? Our nature is to sin. Eliminating sin from our lives can only occur when we fully submit to God and ask him to remove for us.

I pray we all know we cannot break addiction on our own. I pray we recognize addiction for what it is. I pray each one of us recognize the sin in our lives and ask God to remove our desire to sin. Recognize addiction. Ask for help. Recognize sin. Ask God to remove your desire for sin.

Romans 6:1-2 What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may increase? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it?

Ready to Give Up

Have you been at the end of your rope? Have you been at the point of barely hanging on? Have you been ready to give up only to have something change your mind at the last minute? What caused you to hold on for a bit longer. Where did your reversal of fortune come from?

We all struggle through a variety of challenging situations throughout our lives. We may even go through a very difficult time, a situation that has us believing everything is about to come crashing down around our heads. We may believe we cannot continue to carry on.

Hagar believed she had come to the end. She had been sent away by Abraham at Sarah’s demand with nothing but a container of water and the clothes on her back. When the water ran out, she had Ishmael set under some bushes to protect him from the sun, then she sat several yards away, so she didn’t have to watch him die. She was desperate and saw no way to save herself or her son. That’s when God appeared and provided an answer.

We can find ourselves in desperate situations. When we do, we need to reach to God. He will hear our cry. But we cannot wait until things are desperate to start a relationship with God. We must start that relationship and build upon it beforehand. Hagar would have had a relationship with God, having lived with Abraham and Sarah. She likely knew to pray and believed God was all-powerful. The deeper we can grow our relationship with God and the more we depend on him during good times, the better prepared we are to depend on him with difficulties come.

I pray we all grow our relationship with God. I pray we seek to know God better. I pray each one of us recognize our experiences with God and learn to trust him more each day. Grow your relationship with God. Get to know God better. Recognize your experiences with God. Trust God more each day.

Genesis 21:19-21 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Impatient for God

How many times do you take matters into your own hands? How often do you do what you think is best or perhaps what you want to? Have you done it after asking God for guidance and felt like he provided none? How did it work out for you? Were you better than before?

We are often impatient. When God doesn’t answer are request immediately, we take matters into our own hands. We determine what we think is best, or at least the least bad choice, and go with that. It may or may not work out for us, and we may never know what God intended.

Abraham and Sarah made a choice they thought they needed to make. However, they did not need to do what they did. Abraham and Sarah were growing older. Thinking they were nearing the end of their childbearing years and having no child, Sarah told Abraham to go to her slave to attempt to have a child. Hagar, Sarah’s slave, became pregnant and gave birth to Ishmael.

Several years later, God told Abraham that Sarah would give birth to a son. Sarah laughed, for she was eighty-nine years old. She gave birth to Isaac a year later. A few years after that, Sarah became jealous of Ishmael. She wanted Abraham to send Hagar and Ishamel away. Things had not turned out as Sarah thought they would.

We can become impatient or think we must make a decision before we really need to make it. That decision may be made out of fear or anxiety, rather than relying and waiting on God. As often as we may say that God works in his time, we don’t always want to wait for him. However, it is best if we wait for God to provide clear direction to make our decision.

I pray we all choose to trust and wait for God. I pray we do not allow fear nor anxiety to force our decision. I pray each one of us seek God’s guidance and know he will do what’s best for us. Trust God. Wait for God. Seek God’s guidance. God will do what’s best for you.

Genesis 21:9-10 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.”

Wisdom and Instruction

Many people pursue knowledge. They believe the more they know the better they will be. There is a false sense of security in knowledge. Let’s make no mistake. Knowledge is important. But spouting statistics or dates or locations or names of people randomly doesn’t do much good. For knowledge to do good, there needs to be context and a point of use for it.

Now, wisdom is the ability to take bits of knowledge and understand how to apply them in a specific context or situation. It is understanding that the best information relayed during a baseball game revolves around a player’s statistics or team trends in a specific situation. Or, when working in healthcare, provide the patient’s vital signs or medications they are prescribed.

But that is only one example of wisdom. True wisdom begins with our awe and respect for God. It includes understanding that all knowledge and wisdom come from God. Without God, we would have no knowledge, for God is the giver of knowledge. Applying that knowledge in useful ways in a specific situation is wisdom, which is also a gift from God.

Our pursuit of knowledge and wisdom is a continual process. We should never stop learning. That learning often comes by instruction from people with more experience and education than we have. Instruction does not happen solely in a classroom but can occur around our dinner table, working in the yard, at work, and while attending worship services. We all encounter people who have more knowledge about certain things than we do, and we have more knowledge than others in certain things.

Wisdom is knowing which situation we are in. Are we the one with knowledge or are we the one who needs to listen? Honoring God and following his instruction aids us in better understanding when to speak and when to listen. Rather than being a fool, we should all strive to be the wise servant of God who is open to instruction and asking God for wisdom.

Proverbs 1:7

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; 

fools despise wisdom and instruction.