Tag Archives: Isaac

January 13, 2016 · 5:56 AM

Reopen And Restore

  
How do you respond to road blocks and set backs? Do you believe the non-scriptural platitudes that say, “God doesn’t close a door without opening a window”? Do you give up and just sit there? Maybe you look for another route and roll with the punches. Each of us respond in different ways when we’ve done the ground work for things in our lives only to have it stopped suddenly. I believe how we respond matters.

In Genesis 26, Abraham had already died and his son Isaac was a full grown man. Isaac planted crops and God blessed them. Whatever he did, God put His hand on it and made him successful. With that success came jealousy from others who were not as blessed. The Philistines went around and filled his wells with dirt, and their king made him uproot his family and move because of their jealousy. 

When Isaac moved away to other places he had taken his flocks before, he realized what they had done. Isaac and his father had dug many wells throughout the land to give water to their family and flocks. Now, all those years of work had been undone. He could looked for other wells that didn’t belong to him, but that wasn’t right. Genesis 26:18 says, “He reopened the wells his father had dug, which the Philistines had filled in after Abraham’s death. Isaac also restored the names Abraham had given them” (NLT).

When what you’ve worked for gets destroyed by someone else, don’t just walk away or give up, put the work back into it and re-dig your wells. It’s going to take work. It’s going to take determination. It’s going to take your desire to be successful and blessed to be stronger than your desire to give up. Isaac didn’t quit or look for God to open a new well. He grabbed a shovel, started digging, and restored what the enemy had closed. That’s the response we should give to set backs and roadblocks in our lives.

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January 30, 2014 · 8:08 AM

Taking The Train

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Yesterday was one of those days. I was away on business and couldn’t get home. The airport was shut down due to weather and my flight had been canceled. The roads were closed due to ice so I couldn’t drive home. The only other option was to take a train. I realize that other countries and even parts of the States have adopted rail as normal way to commute, but it hasn’t caught on where I live. The day was ripe for adventure.

People are more friendly on a train than on a plane. I guess that’s because you are going to spend quite a bit of time together. I got to know a father from Australia who came to the US to rescue his wife and daughter. They were going to see the world together when the daughter developed a fear of flying. He came, figured out a way to get the daughter from Florida to California and then back to Australia without having to fly. It has cost him a great deal of time and money, but He was happy just to be taking care of his family.

It reminded me of the great lengths our father will go for us. When we’re suddenly afraid to take that next step of faith, even after having taken several, our Father will come to our rescue. He will leave His throne in Heaven, meet us where we are and guide us the rest of the way. It may not be the way He intended for us to take, but He’s good at finding work arounds. He doesn’t come and demand that we do it His way. He comes and gently encourages us to find a way to follow our faith.

I also met a Filipino who is an associate pastor in Long Beach. He, like many of the disciples, loves to fish. His trip had taken him from California to Florida to go on a fishing expedition. His eyes lit up as he talked about all the different types of fishing he had done. They really lit up when he talked of his seven daughters and only son whom God blessed him with “late in life.” Here was a man in his sixties who had a five year old son and referred to him as a blessing from God.

He reminded me of Abraham who had a son at one hundred years of age. He was supposed to be beyond the years of having children, yet God decided to bless him with a son. Abraham considered it a blessing and Sarah thought it was a joke. They both loved their son very much and God used that miracle to be the way to fulfill His promise he made to them 25 years earlier. I’m sure the older Abraham got, the more he doubted God’s promise. He must have become content with living in the land God showed him and had given up until the angel spoke. That son became the embodiment of the promises of God that seem too far fetched to come true. It gives us all hope that His promise to us is still coming.

I don’t know where your adventure is taking you, but I do know that all around you are reminders of who God is. To me, He proved He is the father who will go to lengths of the earth to find me. He’ll make a way for me even when I don’t see how. He also showed that the promises He made years ago are still alive. I don’t see the path to make them come true and I’m not getting any younger, but He knows when the timing will be right. Until then, I’m to be faithful, ready to call Him when I need help and open to blessings in disguise. God is good at using those to fulfill his promise.

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August 1, 2012 · 8:00 AM

Acting in Faith

Lately God has been pushing me to do more than I ever have. Sometimes the things He asks are small while other times it requires a great amount if faith to step out and do it. That first moment when you hear His voice or feel His prompting is critical. My mind starts to think different things. Do I step out and do that? Is that really God? Why would you want me to do that?

Have you experienced those thoughts when you’ve been promoted by God to act in faith? I think we all have. It’s not easy to take a step when you can’t see where you’re going. You don’t know what will happen or how you’ll look. We are all called by God to live a life of faith and surrender. What do you do when feel lead to act in faith?

Abraham was asked to take a huge leap of faith in sacrificing his only son. Here are somethings we can follow when we are asked to act in faith.

1. Act quickly

When God spoke to Abraham in Genesis 22:2 and asked him to sacrifice his son, Abraham didn’t argue with God. He knew that God had given him his son in his old age and that nothing was impossible for God. Verse 3 says that Abraham got up early the next morning, saddled his donkey, chopped wood for the sacrifice and began the trip.

I wonder how I would respond in that situation. Would I have argued with God? Would I have delayed and procrastinated? When God asks us to do something, it is usually time bound and requires our immediate action. He may want you to say something to a stranger, pay for someone’s groceries or just pray for someone. When He asks, we need to act quickly in faith.

2. Trust God

Along the way to the mountain, Isaac realized something wasn’t right. He noticed the wood and the fire, but he didn’t see a lamb. Abraham replied that God would provide. He knew that God had made a promise to him and that God would fulfill His promise. He wasn’t sure how He would do it, but he knew that God had not let any promises go unfulfilled yet.

God is faithful to His Word. He cannot go back on it. When He promises something to you, believe it with al, your heart and trust Him to fulfill it. As abraham was binding up his son and placing him on the altar, I’m sure Abraham was thinking, “Uh God, where is the lamb for this sacrifice?” He continued to act in faith even when he couldn’t see how God would provide. Blind obedience always yields God’s reward.

3. Receive His blessing

As Abraham stood there with knife in hand, the angel called out to him to stop. His faith had been tested and he had shown God that he would not withhold anything from Him including his only son. God then provided a ram to be caught in some bushes by its horns. He received that blessing and sacrificed it instead.

This is a great illustration of what God has done for us. It was our lives who were on the altar. We are the ones who were supposed to die because of our sin. At the right moment in time, God provided a lamb to be sacrificed in our place. He provided His only son, Jesus to come and die in our place so we could receive the blessing of spending eternity with Him.

If God was not willing to withhold even His own son from us, how much of what we have should we be willing to give Him? What He asks of us pales in comparison to what He gave for us. When God asks us next time to step out in faith, remember that we need to act quickly and trust Him. We have received the blessing of salvation, now it’s time to give something back to Him.

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