Abraham’s Greatest Test

Abraham's Greatest Test

>>> Read Genesis 22>>>

 

Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being . . .   (Psalm 51:6).

 

We can know 'truth' in an intellectual way and can express it through our lips – but God looks for truth deep in our hearts.  In chapter 22, when God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, He was asking some very important questions. Did Abraham love God because he received the promised blessing, or had God truly become the unshakable source of Abraham's life?  Abraham had demonstrated love for God, but did he love Him more than he loved anything else?  These questions are answered when Abraham "rose early in the morning … split wood for the burnt offering … and went to the place of which God had told him."  Abraham was willing to trust God and give Him everything.

 

As you begin to grow in faith and develop intimacy with the Lord, He will lay His hand upon something very dear to your heart. In Abraham's case, it was "your only son, Isaac, whom you love."  Isaac was the object of his parents' love and the one in whom all the promises would be fulfilled. Now he would become the center of God's test for Abraham – a literal trial by fire – which would reveal the depths of Abraham's heart and bring honor to God.

 

Abraham rose early in the morning, took Isaac with him and split wood for the burnt offering. He doesn't stop to think about the results; he doesn't allow flesh and blood to have a part in his decision – instead, he responds in faith to the One who owns his heart. Abraham's faith and devotion are expressed in the words ". . . we will worship and return to you."

 

His eye was on God, not on his service. When your eye is on God and not on what you do, you exert a spirit of worship. When we think only of Him, it will not matter if we are a pastor or a janitor. Whatever my service, the work of my hands is perfumed with the ardent breathing of my spirit. It will not be mechanical service, doing for doing's sake, where I am more occupied with my work than with my Master. Faith causes all my works to begin and end with God. CHM

 

 Abraham's work of faith was not mere lip service – he drew the knife – this was no mere show of outward devotion. Outward devotion is Peter, stating that he would die for the Lord, and then failing the test (Mat. 26:35). Faith does not talk about what it will do, instead it resides deep within until it meets a test. For Abraham, Mt. Moriah was the proof – the testimony – that he had learned the deep lessons of faith. He did not rest in his blessings – he rested in God Himself.

 

Would I still worship God if He took something (or someone) I dearly loved away from me? Would I be more concerned about His glory and praise than I am about my own desires and comfort? This is what James refers to when he says, "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?" It's easy enough to talk about faith in God and to praise Him when things are going our way. However, when God tests us as He tested Abraham, or Job, what will we say? It is at those times that our outward actions reveal the inward, hidden life and whether we are truly given over to God. It is the outward life that James speaks about in his letter – it is the outward life that speaks to the watching world.

 

Do you think Abraham came away from his experience on Mt. Moriah with the same view of God he had when he took his first steps in that direction?  Without trials, we have only theories about faith and presumption about God. Our theories and intellectual knowledge of His Word cause us to give lip service to Him – but when we receive grace to endure a trial we are changed and He is glorified in us. The real-life experience of God's sufficiency on our behalf teaches us the true meaning of 'overcoming the world.'  For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. (1John 5:4).

 

If we are too busy involving ourselves in the world (even through religious things that we deem spiritual, yet are rooted in our own good works) then we will not be aware that God requires us to overcome the world. We have only to look at Abraham's history to learn the difference between compromising with the world and overcoming it. Abraham provides abundant examples of both.  In Abraham we see the character of human nature; in God's dealing with Abraham we see what He will do to produce  "truth in the innermost being."

 

[This article is heavily referenced from C.H. Mackintosh's commentary Notes on the Pentateuch]                              LJ 1/10

Isaac – The Fruit of God’s Faithfulness

Isaac – The Fruit of God's Faithfulness

>>> Read Genesis 21 and Galatians 4:22- 5:1>>>

 

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.              Gal. 5:1

 

In this chapter, we read about the birth of Sarah's son, Abraham's heir. As Isaac grew, Ishmael (the son who is not the heir) mocked him and Sarah said "Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son. . ."  The Word of God tells us that Abraham was distressed and the woman and her son were sent away. We could talk about how Abraham must have felt, since Ishmael had been part of his family for 15 years; or we could discuss God's compassion toward Hagar and her son. However, Scripture doesn't focus on these things, instead our attention is drawn to a sequence of events that sum up Abraham's life thus far and introduce us to the heir of promise.

 

While Abraham waited for the promised son, God trained him in two areas. One, Abraham learned what it means to live by the principle of faith; and two, he grew in the understanding of God's faithfulness.  Now we see this flow of events:

 

¨       The child of the flesh is cast out

¨       Isaac (the fruit of faith) is established as the true heir of God's promise

¨       Abraham is acknowledged as a man of faith

¨       Abraham establishes himself in the land for the first time

 

These events have significance for they speak of the believer's life on the earth. While it seems cruel for Ishmael to be 'cast out,' this picture is given so that we will understand God's mind regarding the works of the law. The works of the law are any fleshly efforts to become acceptable to God (such as 'doing our best' to do His will). The law is not compatible with the life of faith and will not be tolerated by God as a way to live. Children of the law will not inherit with children of faith. Self-effort is a bondage that cuts off the believer's ability to grow in the knowledge of the Fathers' heart and when we lose access to the Father, we lose the source of all blessing.

 

The life of religious self-effort mocks the life of faith as Ishmael mocked Isaac. In Paul's day, the religious Jew (bound by the law) persecuted and mocked the apostle as he preached the gospel of grace.  Paul is similar to Abraham – he spoke of learning to live by faith (Phil. 4:11) – how well he understood the difference between the bondwoman and the free woman!

 

As we move through the sequence of events in Genesis 21, we read of an encounter between Abimelech and Abraham. Abimelech recognized Abraham as a man of faith, a man who lived according to God's will. Abimelech let's us know what he sees in Abraham when he says, "God is with you in all you do."  Notice, Abimelech did not praise Abraham for his strength, influence or wisdom; he saw God's presence in Abraham's life. This is the purpose of the believer's life! We do not set out to become known as a person who demonstrates God's presence – we keep our minds and hearts set on knowing Him and pressing on through the school of faith.  We respond to God when He exposes our weakness and we depend upon Him to conform us to the likeness of His Son. Then people will see, as Abimelech did, that God is faithful.

 

Abimelech recognized Abraham as man of position and made a request of him. This situation portrays Abraham as a man to be reckoned with (because God is with him in all he does).  For the first time Abraham makes a claim on the land God has given him. He requests control over a well and he plants a grove. This is a picture of God – through Abraham – having a presence on the earth.

 

God has revealed Himself to a man who has responded in faith. The fruit of that relationship is a son – the son of promise – Isaac.  Isaac is the heir to the land, numerous descendants, nations and spiritual seed.  What a beautiful picture of the life of faith for every believer in this age – the age of grace. We do not gain land on the earth, but are promised a heavenly home. The fruit of our lives is not represented by earthly nations but by spiritual fruit as we live in the power of the Holy Spirit, in dependence upon God the Father.

 

The challenge we face as believers is to cast out the bondwoman, for we are children of the 'free woman.'  If we read the Bible to find principles for life or to find rules to live by we put ourselves in the position of depending on self in order to please God. God has given us this book so that we can draw near to Him through knowing His Son. It is only by knowing His Son intimately that we are able to live the life that pleases God. As we know Him and are conformed into His image, He will give us the ability to respond to the correction and child-training necessary to make us into people who will elicit this comment, "God is with you in all you do."         LJ 1/10

Abraham's Weakness - And Ours

Abraham's Weakness . . . and Ours

>>> Read Genesis 20>>>

 

. . . And it came about, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said to her [Sarah], "This is the kindness which you will show to me: everywhere we go, say of me, 'He is my brother.' "         Gen. 20:13

 

The thirteenth verse of Genesis 20 reveals Abraham's root weakness as he walks with God. What caused Abraham to make this arrangement with Sarah? We can see that it was fear – fear of the people inhabiting the land where Abraham pitched his tent. However, fear is not the root, it is only the branch. The root is Abraham's failure to trust God.

 

He and Sarah devised this scheme when they left their homeland. We would think by now, after all Abraham has learned from God, that this would no longer be an issue for him. Yet, if we feel this way about Abraham, or even about our own walk with Lord, we underestimate the fallen nature of mankind.

 

The theme of Abraham's life is walk by faith, not by sight, and it is the theme of your life and mine. Here, Abimelech's question (vs10) caused Abraham to acknowledge his weakness. He failed to cling to God who has been revealed to him as:

 

¨       The God of Glory (revealed to him in Ur)

¨       Jehovah,  One who reveals Himself for the purpose of acting on behalf of His people (revealed to him at Bethel)

¨       El Elyon, the Most High God, the owner of heaven and earth (revealed to him at Hebron)

¨       His Shield and Great Reward (revealed to him in a vision recorded in chapter 15)

¨       El Shaddai (revealed as The All Sufficient One who will put life into Sarah's dead womb)

 

Abraham, despite consistent revelation of God, reveals that he is still depending upon his own devices – he is still walking by sight. He looked around and was gripped by fear. Are you gripped by fear as you look around at the world today? We are living in uncertain times; evil forces, seen and unseen, dominate every aspect of the world. Looking around causes me to fear and I hear concern in the voices of others who stay current with world events as well. It is easy to lose focus on the unseen things of God.

 

Counting on the things of God – this has been the focus of Abraham's training in the school of faith. Every day he woke up to find indigenous people still living in the land – they were proof that the land did not yet belong to him.  Abraham had the promise of God, but those people had the land! This was a constant reminder that he was to count on God and His promise, and NOT on the everyday realities that he could see and touch. It wasn't any easier for him than it is for us!

 

Abraham's encounter with Abimelech revealed his failure to trust God. Yet, when Abraham was finally exposed (to himself and to the people of Gerar), God did something unexpected: He dignified Abraham in the eyes of Abimelech saying, "He is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live."

 

Abraham shamed himself in the eyes of King Abimelech, but God caused the king to be indebted to this erring saint. He called him a prophet and made Abimelech dependent upon Abraham's prayers. God may have a dispute with us, but it is a secret dispute between Him and us. When it comes to dealing with the enemy, Jehovah steps in to plead his servant's case. He will not fail to shield his feeble lamb from the wolves of the world. He not only protects those who are His, He lifts them up in the eyes of the world by linking their value with His own exalted worth.            Hamilton Smith

 

Abraham's story is our story. Who of us does not fall prey to our God-doubting sin nature within? We have His Word – we even have a history with Him – He has demonstrated His care for us repeatedly. Still, we fail to remember who He is and what He has said He would do for us. We look around and fear grips us, so we find clever ways to fortify ourselves against the things that threaten us.

 

Let us remember all that God is to us, but even more, what we are to Him.

Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm . . .     Psalm 105:15

. . .  For he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye.            Zech. 2:8

 

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.       Heb. 4:15-16                                                                                        

LJ 12/09