A series on the
story of redemption – Part II
The story of Abraham
– #2
(Click on the
link below to read the verses.)
Genesis 22
[Everybody has a story. Even God has one. His is a story about love and redemption and faithfulness. In this series we are going to take a closer look at God’s story through the lives of the people that He touched. How their story became His story of redemption. And how your story is also a part of it.]
There’s a famous Charlie Brown cartoon strip where Lucy promises to hold a football for Charlie Brown while he kicks it. However, every time that he approaches the ball, she pulls it away. The result is that Charlie Brown falls flat on his back.
Sometimes life feels just like that. We put our
trust in someone and just when we need them the most, they pull the ball away
so that we fall flat on our back. It especially hurts when we keep trusting the
person and they keep betraying our trust.
Abraham may have felt like that. The Lord called him to leave his home and go to a land where he had never been. He had no idea what would happen once he arrived. But he uprooted his wife, family, servants and livestock by faith in the Lord’s promise.
1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your
country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will
show you.
2 “I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing. Genesis 12 NIV
However, after they arrived there was a famine in
the land. Because of this Abraham moved again, this time to Egypt. There were
plenty of fields for his livestock to graze, but there was one problem. Sarah was
beautiful and Abraham feared for his life. So, he told her to lie and say that
she was his sister.
Abraham faced many other trials during his journey
to the new land. Not the least of which was when he got impatient with the Lord
to fulfill His promise to give him a child. Unwilling to wait any longer, Abraham
took Sarah’s Egyptian servant as his wife. Did Abraham feel the football being
pulled away again?
Twenty-five years after Abraham initially moved to
Canaan, Sarah finally became pregnant. Their son was a child of the promise.
Sarah was thrilled and named him Isaac, which means “he laughs”. But once again
the football was pulled away.
2 Then 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.” NIV
13 Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its
horns in a thicket. So, he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in
place of his son. 14 Abraham named the place
Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”). To this day,
people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of
the Lord it will be provided.” NLT
Finally, the football wasn’t pulled away. The Lord was
faithful and provided a substitution for the sacrifice. In the same way, he has
provided a substitution of his only son whom he loved as a sacrifice to take
our place.
9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one
and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through
him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God,
but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 1 John 4 NLT
Who’s holding your football – Lucy or Yahweh-Yireh?
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