WordLive - Year OneSample

Prepare: ‘Lord, I invite you to be at home in every corner of my life. Help me to make you welcome.’ Staggering trust Child sacrifice was not uncommon in this era; contemporary texts from Phoenician and Punic colonies suggest it was performed as a means of ensuring fertility. But Isaac was a child of promise, born to parents in extreme old age (21:2), and dearly loved (22:2). It is a staggering testament to Abraham’s trust and devotion to God that he immediately and unquestioningly responds to God’s instructions to give him up as a burnt offering (v 3). One can only imagine the anguish of that three-day journey to Moriah (v 4), and yet there is no wavering or even argument from Abraham. What would I have done? As I read this story, I ask myself what I would have done, and I fear the answer. Do I love God more than the things he gives me? Would I give him everything if he asked me to? We don’t know how Abraham heard God speak on this occasion, but clearly it was unambiguous. I hope that if God spoke to me as directly I would be obedient. In the meantime, I pray that my love of him would grow more wholehearted and overshadow the love I have for anything or anyone else. Respond: God can always use difficult circumstances to refine our character. How might he be working through the testing situations you face at the moment? http://www.wordlive.org/Session/Classic/2012-04-19