Genesis – First, God
What is God asking you to lay down so that your trust and faith in Him is complete?
PAUSE TO PRAY…then read the story of Abraham and Isaac.
Genesis 22, The Message
After all this, God tested Abraham. God said, “Abraham!”
“Yes?” answered Abraham. “I’m listening.”
2 He said, “Take your dear son Isaac whom you love and go to the land of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I’ll point out to you.”
3-5 Abraham got up early in the morning and saddled his donkey. He took two of his young servants and his son Isaac. He had split wood for the burnt offering. He set out for the place God had directed him. On the third day he looked up and saw the place in the distance. Abraham told his two young servants, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I are going over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and gave it to Isaac his son to carry. He carried the flint and the knife. The two of them went off together.
7 Isaac said to Abraham his father, “Father?”
“Yes, my son.”
“We have flint and wood, but where’s the sheep for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham said, “Son, God will see to it that there’s a sheep for the burnt offering.” And they kept on walking together.
9-10 They arrived at the place to which God had directed him. Abraham built an altar. He laid out the wood. Then he tied up Isaac and laid him on the wood. Abraham reached out and took the knife to kill his son.
11 Just then an angel of God called to him out of Heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Yes, I’m listening.”12 “Don’t lay a hand on that boy! Don’t touch him! Now I know how fearlessly you fear God; you didn’t hesitate to place your son, your dear son, on the altar for me.”
13 Abraham looked up. He saw a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. Abraham took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
14 Abraham named that place God-Yireh (God-Sees-to-It). That’s where we get the saying, “On the mountain of God, he sees to it.”
15-18 The angel of God spoke from Heaven a second time to Abraham: “I swear—God’s sure word!—because you have gone through with this, and have not refused to give me your son, your dear, dear son, I’ll bless you—oh, how I’ll bless you! And I’ll make sure that your children flourish—like stars in the sky! like sand on the beaches! And your descendants will defeat their enemies. All nations on Earth will find themselves blessed through your descendants because you obeyed me.”
19 Then Abraham went back to his young servants. They got things together and returned to Beersheba. Abraham settled down in Beersheba.
20-23 After all this, Abraham got the news: “Your brother Nahor is a father! Milcah has given him children: Uz, his firstborn, his brother Buz, Kemuel (he was the father of Aram), Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” (Bethuel was the father of Rebekah.) Milcah gave these eight sons to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.
24 His concubine, Reumah, gave him four more children: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
HOLY PAUSE
What is God asking you to lay down so that your trust and faith in Him is complete?
Dear Heavenly Father,
Your Word, Your Holy Spirit and Your Voice speaks volumes to us this morning. This is personal. This affects our relationship. I lay my Isaac down.
In Jesus Name, Amen
Our faith becomes faulty when we change our minds as our moods change. When we lead by our feelings, doubts easily slip in. We do things on our own to “help God”, especially when we think He forgot us or what He told us He would do in our lives.
7 She also said,
27-28 So the two of them made a covenant. Abraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech. Abraham set aside seven sheep from his flock.
While we are here on earth, we must expect both joy and sorrow, laughter and tears. You cannot have hills without valleys.
Sarah had borne the burden of childlessness for many years, a heavy burden indeed in that culture and at that time. People must have smiled when they heard that her husband’s name was Abraham, “father of a multitude.” He was the father of one son, Ishmael, but that was far from a multitude, and Sarah had never given birth. But now all of her reproach was ended, and they were rejoicing in the arrival of their son.
The birth of Isaac was certainly the revelation of God’s power. That was one reason why God waited so long: He wanted Abraham and Sarah to be “as good as dead” so that their son’s birth would be a miracle of God and not a marvel of human nature (Rom. 4:17-21). 
“No man in this world attains to freedom from any slavery except by entrance into some higher servitude,” said Phillips Brooks, and that “higher servitude” is personal surrender to Jesus Christ. No one is more free than the child of God who delights in God’s will and does it from the heart.
“What were you thinking?” How many times has this question been asked of us when we were kids right after doing foolish things? For example, going down a steep driveway with bulky tar strips dividing it in two places while barefoot on an old skateboard with actual skate wheels, not the kind we have today, was a bit challenging for me. 
1-2 Abraham traveled from there south to the Negev and settled down between Kadesh and Shur. While he was camping in Gerar, Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She’s my sister.”
4-5 Now Abimelech had not yet slept with her, hadn’t so much as touched her. He said, “Master, would you kill an innocent man? Didn’t he tell me, ‘She’s my sister’? And didn’t she herself say, ‘He’s my brother’? I had no idea I was doing anything wrong when I did this.”
8-9 Abimelech was up first thing in the morning. He called all his house servants together and told them the whole story. They were shocked. Then Abimelech called in Abraham and said, “What have you done to us? What have I ever done to you that you would bring on me and my kingdom this huge offense? What you’ve done to me ought never to have been done.”
14-15 Then Abimelech gave Sarah back to Abraham, and along with her sent sheep and cattle and servants, both male and female. He said, “My land is open to you; live wherever you wish.”
But before you draw some unwarranted conclusions, take time to consider the facts revealed in this event. Abraham’s failures were tragic, but from them we learn some valuable lessons to help us in our walk of faith.
WHAT IS GOOD TO KNOW…
The important thing is that we deal with our sins humbly and honestly, confess them to God, judge them and forsake them, and claim His promises of forgiveness (1 John 1:9; Mic. 7:18-19; Isa. 55:6-13). 
A fellow was stuck on his rooftop in a flood. He was praying to God for help. Soon a man in a rowboat came by and the fellow shouted to the man on the roof, “Jump in, I can save you.” The stranded fellow shouted back, “No, it’s OK, I’m praying to God and he is going to save me.” So the rowboat went on.
1-2 The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening. Lot was sitting at the city gate. He saw them and got up to welcome them, bowing before them and said, “Please, my friends, come to my house and stay the night. Wash up. You can rise early and be on your way refreshed.”
10-11 But the two men reached out and pulled Lot inside the house, locking the door. Then they struck blind the men who were trying to break down the door, both leaders and followers, leaving them groping in the dark.
23 The sun was high in the sky when Lot arrived at Zoar.
29 And that’s the story: When God destroyed the Cities of the Plain, he was mindful of Abraham and first got Lot out of there before he blasted those cities off the face of the Earth.
FAITH AND WALK: LOT vs. ABRAHAM 
Who interceded for you when you were lost without God? 
The first time God rescued Lot, he was a prisoner of war (14:12, 16), and he went right back into Sodom. That painful experience should have warned him that he was out of the will of God, but if Lot heard the warning, he certainly did not heed it. Now God has to take Lot by the hand and forcibly drag him out of Sodom! First, Lot lingered; then he argued; then he begged to be allowed to go his own way. Instead of being grateful for God’s mercy and obeying his rescuers, Lot resisted them and created trouble for them. In contrast, Abraham obeyed God’s will even to the point of offering up his own son.
God will listen to an honest, sincere heart! Then why don’t we speak with the God of Creation, who knows all, with complete honesty, relieving our hearts of the burdens we carry? Sometimes in our religious words, God must be waiting patiently with thoughts of “Get the point, Susan”, I know what you need, just ask.
“I didn’t laugh”, says fearful Sarah. God came back with, “Yes, you did.” We don’t know if, like kids, they went back and forth with, “Yes, you did” “No, I didn’t” “Yes, you laughed, I heard you”. In this episode in the school of faith, we learn we are to be honest and reverent with God 
1-2 God appeared to Abraham at the Oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent. It was the hottest part of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing. He ran from his tent to greet them and bowed before them.
10 One of them said, “I’m coming back about this time next year. When I arrive, your wife Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was listening at the tent opening, just behind the man.
13-14 God said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh saying, ‘Me? Have a baby? An old woman like me?’ Is anything too hard for God? I’ll be back about this time next year and Sarah will have a baby.”
23-25 Abraham confronted him, “Are you serious? Are you planning on getting rid of the good people right along with the bad? What if there are fifty decent people left in the city; will you lump the good with the bad and get rid of the lot? Wouldn’t you spare the city for the sake of those fifty innocents? I can’t believe you’d do that, kill off the good and the bad alike as if there were no difference between them. Doesn’t the Judge of all the Earth judge with justice?”
Abraham was taking his daily rest during the heat of the day when he saw three strangers approaching. Few people ever traveled when the sun was so hot, so Abraham was immediately both curious and courteous. Hospitality is the first law of the East, and Abraham faithfully obeyed it.
Abraham’s service was marked with humility. He bowed to his guests (Gen. 18:2), called himself a servant (vv. 3, 5), and called the feast only “a morsel of bread.” He served the three visitors and then stood near to be available if needed. He interrupted a comfortable afternoon nap to become a servant to three strangers, but because of that service, he received tremendous blessings for himself and his wife.
The Lord had come all the way from heaven to give Abraham and Sarah an announcement: At that same time next year, Sarah would give birth to the promised son! The news was so incredible that Sarah laughed and questioned whether such a thing could happen to two elderly people. Abraham’s laughter had been born out of joyful faith (17:17), but Sarah’s laughter was marked by unbelief, even though she tried to deny it.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Imagine you are serving Abram. You stay close to his tent, within the hearing of his voice, so that you don’t miss an order or command to do something that he asks. When he speaks you are quick to obey for this is what you do. It is who you are–a servant. Your entire life is devoted to please your master.
As you are serving on an ordinary day, The God, the only God, of Abram shows up! You watch in awe as God speaks to your master. He tells Abram to “live entirely” for God. You see your master fall on his knees, face to the ground, in humble fear and holy reverence before God.
15-16 God continued speaking to Abraham, “And Sarai your wife: Don’t call her Sarai any longer; call her Sarah. I’ll bless her—yes! I’ll give you a son by her! Oh, how I’ll bless her! Nations will come from her; kings of nations will come from her.”
The secret of a perfect walk before God is a personal worship of God. Like Abraham, every believer must fall before the Lord and yield everything to Him. If He is El Shaddai–“God Almighty”–then who are we to resist His will?
Since God’s covenant involved Abraham’s “seed,” it was fitting that the mark of the covenant be on the male organ of generation. Since all people are conceived in sin (Ps. 51:5), this special mark would remind them that they were accepted by God because of His gracious covenant. It was God who chose the Jews, not the Jews who chose God (Deut. 7:1-11), and He chose them to be a holy people.
What does all of this mean to Christian believers today? The seal of our salvation is not an external rite but the presence of an internal witness in the person of the Holy Spirit of God (Eph. 1:13; 4:30; Rom. 8:9, 16). We have experienced a “spiritual circumcision” (Col. 2:9-12) that makes us part of the “true circumcision” (Phil. 3:1-3 nasb).
Ishmael represented the past, Isaac the future. Ishmael symbolized man’s fleshly way of accomplishing something for God, but Isaac was a miracle baby, born by the power of God. 
1-2 Sarai, Abram’s wife, hadn’t yet produced a child.
13 She answered God by name, praying to the God who spoke to her, “You’re the God who sees me!
The evidences of true biblical faith are: 
HOLY PAUSE
2-3 Abram said, “God, Master, what use are your gifts as long as I’m childless and Eliezer of Damascus is going to inherit everything?” Abram continued, “See, you’ve given me no children, and now a mere house servant is going to get it all.”
6 And he believed! Believed God! God declared him “Set-Right-with-God.”
Abraham’s concern was not just for himself and his wife, though like all Eastern couples, they wanted children. His concern was for the working out of God’s plan of salvation for the whole world. God had a glorious plan, and God made a gracious promise, but God seemed to be doing nothing! Abraham and Sarah were getting older, and time was running out.
It is good to share your concerns with the Lord, even if what you say seems to evidence unbelief or impatience in your heart. God is not deaf to your questions or unconcerned about your feelings. He did not rebuke Abraham; instead, He gave him the assurances that he needed. “Casting all your care upon him; for he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).
TRUTH
Dear Heavenly Father,
I am going to be honest and venerable. This week I went to battle with the evil one. It began with small irritations of people telling me I can’t do this or that because of my age and stature among others digs of who I am. It escalated when I began to believe it, too. The battle got serious when I began to agree with the lies that I am no longer useful to God and his church. So, I prayed, cried, lamented as the prophets of old, and prayed some more. I asked Randy to pray with me and he did, I could feel it.
I have learned to not act on those feelings while in the middle of the battle. So I did not. I thought about resigning the work God gave me to do but I did not. I thought about what I could do instead of doing the hard work of relating to those who think less of you. But I did not act on those thoughts. The battle was great, making me physically tired. I was reminded of Jacob’s wrestling with God. I was exhausted the next day but I was free! The battle was over. God overwhelmed with His Holy Spirit. Go back and do what I have asked you to do. So I did.
A vision was revealed of what could happen if we let God do what He wants to do in and through us and most certainly in the lives of others. The vision is beyond us…FAR beyond us and yet we asked, in unity, why not?
1-2 Then this: Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim went off to war to fight Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar.
17-20 After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and his allied kings, the king of Sodom came out to greet him in the Valley of Shaveh, the King’s Valley. Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine—he was priest of The High God—and blessed him:
Move forward, ONLY at His command. Learn your lessons well in the school of faith. Let God take you to places you have never been before because of your faith in Him. 
I had a dear friend and mentor mom who told me how she taught her two growing boys to divide and share. She would give one boy the choice to divide the cookie, brownie or candy bar. The other boy got first choice as to which half he got. Brilliant, right?
5-7 Lot, who was traveling with Abram, was also rich in sheep and cattle and tents. But the land couldn’t support both of them; they had too many possessions. They couldn’t both live there—quarrels broke out between Abram’s shepherds and Lot’s shepherds. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living on the land at the time.
14-17 After Lot separated from him, God said to Abram, “Open your eyes, look around. Look north, south, east, and west. Everything you see, the whole land spread out before you, I will give to you and your children forever. I’ll make your descendants like dust—counting your descendants will be as impossible as counting the dust of the Earth. So—on your feet, get moving! Walk through the country, its length and breadth; I’m giving it all to you.”
I wonder how many family fights have been caused by the love of money. The newspapers often publish reports about families battling in court because of an inheritance or a lottery winning. People who used to love each other and enjoy each other start attacking each other just to get money, but money cannot buy the blessings that families freely give.
Abraham determined to be a peacemaker and not a troublemaker. The problem between Abraham and Lot was not caused by the land, the famine, their wealth (both of them were rich), or even their herdsmen. The heart of every problem is the problem in the heart. Lot’s heart was centered on wealth and worldly achievement, while Abraham wanted only to please the Lord. 
No wonder our Lord prayed that His people might be one, that the world might believe (John 17:20-23). Christian unity is fragrant and fruitful (Ps. 133), but disunity turns that fragrance into a stench and the garden into a desert. It’s hard for the world to get past the smell of disjointed parts demanding their own way.
Abraham lived for others, not for self. While in Egypt, Abraham thought first about himself (Gen. 12:12-13), but when he returned to his altar in Canaan, he put God first and others next.
How yielding are we at home with family, at work among coworkers, in God’s church among our brothers and sisters in Christ?
