JANUARY 8, 2017

1. “The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” 
   ― Ernest Hemingway

GENESIS 20-22

1Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

2Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”(22:1-2)

MATTHEW 7

24“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

JOURNAL 

I have to wonder if God tested Abraham here because of the way he had handled Sara and their relationship. He always passed her off as his sister for fear of his own life. He risked hurting others to save his own skin. Here now is the one thing in his life that he wants and loves more than anything and God asks him to destroy it. Abraham was in danger of making Isaac his God.  God pushed Abraham and he proved faithful and obedient. Because of this his faith was never questioned and Isaac was spared. 

I think this goes right along with Jesus' story of the man who built his house on the wrong foundation. When the tests came...it crashed. It again goes back to the same question...Who is your God and do you obey him?

58Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

1 CORINTHIANS 15:58