This week’s devotions are based on this week’s message: Shadows: A Glimpse of a Substitute! (WATCH HERE)
Genesis 22:6 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, 7 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?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
The trip with dad got a bit awkward.
Going on a bit of a journey to worship and offer a sacrifice must have been part of Isaac’s experience before. But this one was different.
Two servants, Abraham and Isaac set out with some wood, a knife and a pot of burning coals to start a fire.
But as the small traveling party stopped and Abraham took the wood off the donkey and put it on Isaac and started walking away from the servants, Isaac noticed something missing: a lamb for the burnt offering.
His father’s answer was a bit cryptic, but confident: “God will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”
Abraham had a confidence that calmed Isaac. The two went on together.
But what was going through Isaac’s mind as his dad revealed at the top of Moriah that the Lord actually was asking Isaac to be the sacrifice?
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
The Holy Spirit records no objection from Isaac or any attempt to outrun his 100+ year-old dad. He was bound and laid on the altar.
Abraham had given up his son in his heart already. Isaac was a willing accomplice to the direction God had given his dad.
But it must have been hard, very hard.
God had given a promise. Abraham was certain Isaac was the focus of the next generation of that promise. What Abraham and Isaac could perceive was the loss of life. What bridges the gap when my perception and God’s promises seem at odds?
The gap between my perception and God’s promises is filled with God’s power!
Abraham stood confidently in the middle of a situation where human perception said, “This is not going to end well” and God’s promises that said, “I will make you a great nation.” How did Abraham reconcile the discrepancy?
Hebrews 11:17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.
The second part of the test was whether Abraham and Isaac would trust their perceptions over God’s promises.
Abraham didn’t waver because between human perceptions and God’s promises was God’s power. With God’s power in play, God would be faithful to his promises, even if in the moment human perceptions said otherwise.
Apply: What situation in life are you going through that your human perceptions seem to contradict God’s promises? How might God be using this situation for his power to bridge the gap between your perception and his promises?
Prayer: Lord, forgive my doubts when my perceptions discount your promises. Give me strength to understand that it seems like my perceptions are overriding your clear promises that in that gap stands your power to work all things according to your promises. AMEN.