Be Honest With God

“Early the next morning Abraham got up and …. he set out for the place God had told him about.” (Alright God.)

(Genesis 22:3 NIV)

While listening to one of my favorite cd’s sometime ago, I was challenged about the way I respond to God in the midst of the circumstances He allows to come my way. The album begins with a story of a grandmother being awaken at 2am by her daughter and a boyfriend who wants to drop her baby off in order to go away. The grandmother, tired and frustrated, asks her daughter why she continues to do these irresponsible things while the daughter pleads and assures her that this will be the last time. For the next moments you hear the daughter yelling, the baby crying, the boyfriend blowing the car horn, yelling, “hurry up”. Then through the noise and confusion you hear the grandmother’s voice, “alright, Lord, alright.” Then she says to her daughter, “give me the baby”. The result of that response today is a young man who is influencing the world for God.

So often the circumstances in life come in such huge proportions that it’s easy to be blinded by the weight of the hurt, disappointment, sorrow and pain. The Lord has challenged me to try something. It’s a pattern of belief that we see throughout Scripture from men and women of God who were honest with their fear, but realized that God is greater; who were unsure of their future, but confident in their God.

As we read about Queen Esther being challenged to go before the king, risking death, I hear her say, “alright, Lord.” As Stephen knelt down receiving blows from the rocks, as Paul’s body was weighed down by the shackles, as John sat alone before being beheaded, as David rose from his son’s death bed, as Jesus stood up in the garden and faced his captors, and began His walk to the cross, I hear them all say, “alright, God”.
This week, as you and I face life, the good, bad and the ugly of life, let’s try something. Let’s be honest with God about how we are feeling and then as He reveals His answer through His word, His still small voice, and/or through our circumstances, let’s say with confidence in a Sovereign and loving Father, “alright, Lord” and begin walking…early.

With you on the journey, MJ

God Himself Will Provide the Lamb

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied.

"The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together. (Genesis 22:6-8)

Have you ever awoken early in the morning and felt like you are carrying the wood for your own sacrifice on your shoulders? Can you just imagine how Abraham felt that historic morning as he got out of bed and got dressed knowing he had to but not feeling good about the fact that God’s instructions did not come with an option to back out or compromise about killing his son?

Take a moment and think about your life. What impossibility are you facing today? What in your life is weighing so heavy on your heart that you can hardly breathe because of the intense pain?

Put that in perspective to Abraham’s situation. Here he is, a godly man and one day God comes right out and says, “Kill your son!” Abraham, being human like us, probably had deep emotions inside that surrounded his heart. What had God meant; all of the hopes, the dreams, could this be right? Could God really be telling him to kill his son? At that point in his journey, Abraham had nothing to hold on to except God’s promises. God’s word!

If Abraham had looked at his circumstances even if he had just looked at God’s command, he could have been very discouraged and rightly so. The situation he was in looked entirely different than what he had been told. God said that through Isaac that all nations would be blessed and that Isaac would be his heir. Well, if he killed him, how could this be? Abraham had such faith in God at this time that he knew that even if he had killed Isaac that God, in order to keep His promises, would have raised him from the dead in order to keep His word!

What is your Mount Moriah? What are you carrying that is causing you to think that if you have to carry it to the end that it will be an impossibility for God to come through with what He has promised?

Remember, He is Jehovah Jireh – the God Who Provides!!