Greetings Beloveds,
On Sunday, I mentioned Paul’s admonishment to the Thessalonian church to “pray without ceasing.” Having an attitude of prayer is essential to our walk with God.
I believe Genesis 22 is one of the most outstanding chapters in the Bible. It deals with the most fundamental issues of human life and our relationship with God. It takes us to the mountaintop of faith and then to the valley of hopelessness and outright despair.
Has God ever given you something that later caused you great pain and anguish? What you thought was a blessing one year is turning into turmoil and strife within your life? In chapter 22, God demands Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Remember, God has already promised Abraham he would be the father of many nations. Isaac was supposed to be the means by which God’s promise would come about. God demanding the sacrifice of Isaac doesn’t make much sense and contradicts the song in Abraham’s heart that God placed there.
Simply put, it seems impossible. The problem we often forget is that the impossible part belongs to God. The heavy lift of the impossible is exclusively the domain of our creator. It is a burden we are not required to carry. It can feel like we are engaged in magical thinking. When things operate within our box or realm of understanding, we give our mind the perception of control. Because the box offers perceived protection and familiarity. With God, all things are possible! Can you imagine what must be going through Abraham’s mind? He must be hoping that he somehow misunderstood God’s demand for his son.
Here is the crux of this Wednesday’s mid-week thought. Isaac represents the fulfillment of God’s promises to us, specifically through the written word and the things spoken into our hearts. Isaac represents our hopes, dreams, and our heart song. Isaac is the business God has seeded deep in your heart. The desire to go back to school to finish a degree. The dream of traveling adventures that brings you joy. Wentz’s, we must come to the place where we must genuinely yield our hopes, dreams, and heart desires to the Lord.
This is where some of us miss it by not having an attitude of prayer. The word to Abraham at the base of the mountain differs from the one at the top. The scriptures teach us that we cannot live on bread alone but on every word that proceeds from the heart of God. In other words, God speaks, then speaks again, and again, and again.
We often don’t realize that by not having an attitude of prayer, we are allowing our Isaac (dreams and the fullness of life) to be in jeopardy. Abraham was willing to lose the very thing he held dear and loved. The one thing he had only one of (promised heir). Are you ready to trust your hopes, dreams, heart song, the thing no one knows about except you and God to the savior of your soul, everything for your Isaac to live?
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will direct your path” Proverbs 3:5-5