Daily Devotions based the Sermon from February 21, 2021
THIS WEEK: Lead Me to the Cross…Find the Ram…Find a Substitute!
I didn’t like tests much. Especially ones I didn’t know were coming. Unexpected tests challenged the preparation you had made prior to the test. If you had done the daily work, it was not a big deal. If you hadn’t, you struggled and perhaps failed.
This past week Central Texas was tested. Can we endure a Midwest week of sub-freezing temperatures in a climate used to less than 24 hours below freezing? It was a challenge to be sure. However, our seven years in Minnesota and how to winterize pipes, our experience with an ice storm in North Carolina which led to a generator purchase, a proactive wife who had bought new flashlights and filled our tubs with water and our family was overall very prepared and blessed to not have endured some of the longer power outages and water pipe breaking.
Like in academics, you often learn from the questions you got wrong. Those are the ones you remember the most. We had learned from tests we had failed in the past…no generator…no fresh batteries…broken water valve…and more.
Life is like school…tests in eighth grade are tougher than fourth grade. Tests to pass a doctorate exam tougher than the ones to graduate high school. One test prepares us for the next.
With God as our instructor, he can bring tests to our faith at any time and any way. This week we’ll look at the test he gave to Abraham.
God had given Abraham a number of tests. Leave your home land and travel to a land I will tell you (as you are traveling!). You will be a blessing to many nations (but you have no son). You will have a child in your old age (but my wife is old too). All these God was preparing for what I would think is the biggest test:
Genesis 22:1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
I don’t know about you, but my heart would have sunk. “Really God? The son you promised, miraculously gave to us, the son I dearly love…now you want me to give him back?”
Tests are tough. The push us to the limit of life and often to faith.
Will Abraham pass or fail? Will he trust or doubt?
We’ll see tomorrow. But one indication of his heart is his response to God. “Here I am.” Abraham and the Lord had built a relationship over the years of trust. Abraham didn’t question and ask, “Who are you?” He knew the voice of the Lord. There was no question as to who was speaking.
While we don’t hear the voice of God directly, the pages of the Scripture give us the clear sounding of his voice. Times of testing challenge us to draw closer to the voice of God. For when God tests, he is one of those amazing teachers who, if you are listening carefully, give you the answers to the tests.
Apply: Whatever your test is this week that is challenging you, perhaps before trying to figure it out, go to the voice of God for in the one who gives the test, he also provides the answer for you.
PRAYER: Lord, as you allow tests to come into my heart, lead me back to you and your Words of hope and promise. AMEN.
PS: Don’t forget a daily Lenten devotion today from my brother, Prof. Steve Geiger: CLICK HERE