Abraham was known as a “friend” of God, an honorable place. But Abraham had a little issue. He had no problem hearing God, he just had a problem doing exactly what God said.
Now the Lord had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country, From your family, And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
4 So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him.
God said leave them all, Abraham took Lot with him. It caused nothing but problems.
God said,
3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you;
But the minute Abraham got to Egypt; he started fixing things HIS way:
12 Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.”
This is little faux pas brought Haggar into the camp. She was assigned to Sarah in the palace. When the Pharaoh put Sarah out of the palace, everyone and everything she touched went with her.
God told Abraham :
2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; That was the promise God made to Abraham...so he started to ask some questions.
3 Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”
So Sarah has an idea. “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai.
Now if God said NO to Abraham’s using a servant to give him children, why would it be yes to Sarah’s servant? But Abraham fixed hisself up his version of what the Lord had promised. Now we got the substitute blessing called Ishmael. (Anybody dealing with a substitute blessing because you just decided to help God out?)
Abraham had no problem listening, believing or telling God yes. He just loved to tweak it all the time. But God put his friend to the test.
“Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
Abraham got up the next day and started on his journey. He took two young men with him. On the 3rd day he told the young men to wait there while him and his son went the rest of the way.
1st Point: When you give a REAL YES to the Lord, HE will cause you to walk a part of the journey alone. Everybody can’t go and do what you are assigned. There was not a lot of conversation...just and unwavering faith that he and his son would return. See you have to believe it even when nothing is there that you can see to make you believe it!!!
Isaac asked the question: “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Isaac had seen the offering done numerous of times. He knew something was missing.
2nd Point: It is not always time to tell everyone what God’s plan is. Two servants and a son, and Abraham had said nothing nobody about what he had to do. Too many times we speak to soon and because it is in the atmosphere, things began to come at the Word given and before you know it here come the questions along with the doubt.
Abraham did exactly what the Lord said. He gave God a YES that came from his very soul! Now Isaac was asking about a lamb, but God gave them a Ram!
3rd point: When you do it like God says to do it , there is a huge release that is waiting for you. While you are settling for a little lamb and being comfortable, God has a RAM in the bush. While you are settling for the small stuff, God is ready to release the big things to you because NOW HE KNOWS you fear him and won’t withhold anything from Him. Abraham called the place Jehovah-Jireh; The Lord will provide, but notice, He did not provide until He saw Abraham’s 100% obedience. We love to quote Jehovah Jireh, my provider…but what about the obedience part?
We have all told the Lord yes at some point in our life. But there is a Yes that He is waiting for from you. This Yes requires sarcifice. This Yes requires you to walk alone. This Yes answers when you have no choice. Anybody ever “tweaked” what the Lord told you? Perhaps you left out a detail or two? Maybe you thought God was not moving fast enough for you, so you decided to help him out. How is that working out for you? I am praying every day, please get me past those Abraham moments, when I do what you tell me…according to how I want to do it. I want to give Him a yes He can trust! Can you add to the prayer?
