April 12, 2009

• "the outcome of the Lord's dealings"

  I am not skilled to understand

  What God has willed, what God has planned

  I only know at God's right hand

  Stands One who is my Savior.......
  ..................
  Genesis 22:1-18

   ¹Now it came about after these things, that God tested [literally, "sniffed"] Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."

   ²He said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you."

   ³So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

   ⁴On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance.

   ⁵Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you."

   ⁶Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.

   ⁷Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." And he said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"

   ⁸Abraham said, "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." So the two of them walked on together.

   ⁹Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

   ¹⁰Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

   ¹¹But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."

   ¹²He said, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."

   ¹³Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.

   ¹⁴Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, "In the mount of the Lord it will be provided."

   ¹⁵Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven,

   ¹⁶and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son,

   ¹⁷indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.

   ¹⁸"In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."

   ...................

   

  Why three days?   Why his "only son"?

  That's a long time to be walking down the road, wondering why God would ask for his most precious possession... whether he had understood God correctly...  whether or not it would be worth it to obey...

   

  .....................

   

  Lamentations 3:25-33

     ²⁵The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
  To the person who seeks Him.
  ²⁶It is good that he waits silently
  For the salvation of the Lord.
  ²⁷It is good for a man that he should bear
  The yoke in his youth.
  ²⁸Let him sit alone and be silent
  Since He has laid it on him.
  ²⁹Let him put his mouth in the dust,
  Perhaps there is hope.
  ³⁰Let him give his cheek to the smiter,
  Let him be filled with reproach.
  ³¹For the Lord will not reject forever,
  ³²For if He causes grief,
  Then He will have compassion
  According to His abundant lovingkindness.
  ³³For He does not afflict willingly
  Or grieve the sons of men.
  Matthew 19:29

  "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name's sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life."
  

  James 5:11

  We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful....

   

  • 10:38 pm
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