Genesis 22

Here God tells Abraham to take his son, Isaac, to the land of Moriah. He is to sacrifice him there. Abraham does not question God, but takes his son to this land and is so close to sacrificing him when God's angel calls to him, telling him not to harm his son. Then, a ram very close by, which God provided to be sacrificed instead of Isaac. This place, where God provided the ram, Abraham named GOD-Yireh, which means GOD-sees-to-it. God's angel also tells Abraham that because he was going to offer up his son that he will be greatly blessed.

This chapter may have been very short, but it spoke volumes! First of all I am in awe of how Abraham did not hesitate when he was told to sacrifice his own son! His love for his son is great and I cannot imagine how hard it would be for him to even think about sacrificing his son, but his love for God is greater and for God, he would do anything. How awesome is that! This of course, like the Bible often does, caused me to look at my own life. What have I sacrificed for God? Not much... at least not as much as I should. When I became a Christian there were things I did give up, things I did walk away from, but still not much of a sacrifice. The summer before my junior year of college I sacrificed my fear and anxiety about traveling to Skid Roe in L.A. to work with the homeless, yet, still not much of a sacrifice. Sadly, more than often, I do not sacrifice anything for God, but rather I sacrifice God for other things. I have sacrificed my relationship with God to have relationships that were not what God wanted in my life, that did nothing but lead me far away from Him. I have sacrificed my relationship with God because of my anger, not listening to His word when it says, "In your anger do not sin"(Psalm4:4), but getting so angry that I do not honor God with my tongue or my actions. I have sacrificed my relationship with God in order to get other things... and that is heartbreaking because I truly do love God, but I am not perfect and I have not yet reached that place in our relationship where I am able to give all to God...able to sacrifice all for Him. I hope to get there, I want to get there, but in order to I have to let Him guide me, which I don't always do.

So, God, help me to sacrifice things for you, even if it means sacrificing things for me because it will.

This chapter also made me think about a theme I have already seen in the short amount of time I've been reading. Abraham named the place where God provided - GOD-Yireh, which means GOD-sees-to-it. The theme I see and will continue to see it God sees to everything. God takes care of everything whether we see it or not, in some way He provides. He does not leave us hanging, but gives us all we need. Even more than that He often blesses us. I am so thankful for those things.