As we are starting the year, God has been speaking to us about “walking in His promises”. In other words, believe what He has said about you, and put into practice what he has taught you to do.
God sees your life from beginning to end, in fact he is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega!
Rest in The Promise
Genesis 22:1-11 NLT
“Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called. “Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.” “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.” The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the servants. “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.” So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together, Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together. When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!””
As we read about his life. He wasn’t perfect.
In fact on Chapter 12 we can read:
The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
When Abram was in Ur of the Chaldeans it was because his forefathers had been dispersed at Babel, when the people rebelled against God.
See God knew Abram’s past and still called him.
God knows your past, and out of his Grace and mercy He calls you by name.
He also faced fear.
In Chapter 12 as he is in Egypt he tries to deceive Pharaoh and the Egyptians by lying to them, telling them that Sarai was his sister and not his wife.
How many times do we stop trusting God because of fear of what people will say or do to us?
How many times do we think that it is easier to hide the truth out of fear?
Sometimes as we get busy with life, with war at home or at work. When we get busy with rescue missions, we may think that God forgot his promise to us.
But he hasn’t!
Then In Chapter 15 God comes to Abram in a vision to remind and reassure his promise to him by saying.
“Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield,[a]
your very great reward”
We need to be reminded that “God is our very great reward”
And at that moment Abram talks to God at this moment and presents his reality to him. He tells God he doesn’t have “no one to inherit his state”. “You have given me no children”
He tells God, the promise you gave me that you would make a great nation of me… well it isn’t happening, maybe you can use my servant?
Gen 15:4-6 Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring[d] be.”
6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
It is ok to be real with God, it is ok to talk to him about how you see and feel about your situation.
God is present in your reality
He not only knows your past but is part of your present.
In Chapter 17 approximately 24 years after God spoke with Him the very first time. God makes a covenant with him. Changes his name and makes him “The Promise”
4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram[b]; your name will be Abraham,[c] for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”
Could it be that sometimes we short change God by thinking that his promises are what we want them to be?
Could it be that sometimes we think that the promise I want is what God has planned and do not realize that God’s plan is greater?
Abraham also faced disbelief, as he laughed at God’s promise.
The Lord told Sarah, “is there anything too hard for the Lord?” Gn 18:14
What a great reminder for us today! Is there anything too hard for the Lord?
So we are now at the place of the sacrifice. Where God has called Abraham to worship. Where God has asked of him what seems to be the fulfillment of God’s own promise, to be offered in sacrifice.
I want to encourage you today. You see God’s promise to Abraham was fulfilled in Jesus, every part of the promise to Abraham pointed to Jesus, not just to Isaac. As we position ourselves to walk in God’s promises, we need to make sure we are pointed to Jesus, not just our desires. That we can say, your will be done in me.