I heard the most wonderful sermon yesterday by Jim Beam-Ingram at Wesley United Methodist Church. He revisited Genesis 22, when God told Abraham to take Isaac up the mountain and sacrifice him. Jim’s big point was that this is NOT a story about Abraham’s faithfulness. It IS a story of God’s provision. How, quite possibly, the lamb was there the whole time, and Abraham did not see it until the angel stopped him from sacrificing his son.
Whoa. Are we not looking for God’s provision? Sometimes to accept God’s provision, we have to be willing to put to death the ideas and the plans we have for ourselves. Switch our focus if you will. That can be extremely hard. Abraham was not perfect. He made several mistakes in his life while trying to provide for himself. He finally learned to trust God and had to make the hardest decision of his life.
God’s grace. God’s forgiveness. God’s provision.
I also heard a sermon by Steven Furtick this morning. It was one in a series called “Mr. and Mrs. Betterhalf”. In trying to find a mate, some overly worry about “choosing wrongly”. He reiterated that God is so much bigger than that. I worry about making the wrong choice in so many aspects of my life, even if I feel led by God. He is so much bigger than that. He has a plan for you and a plan for me. If my plan is not of God, it will fail. It may be painful, but His will WILL be done.
Genesis 22:13-14 NLT Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the LORD will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”
Proverbs 19:21 NLT You can make many plans, but the LORD’s purpose will prevail.
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