Good morning all. I’m writing this just after church and I’m still reeling from the amazing message that Pastor shared with us. Oh, by the way Pastor…Thanks for being led by the Spirit and daring enough to respond…to go where things can get hard & ugly…even if we don’t understand how those “places” He put there…are for our own good. So, before we get started, if you would, please take a few minutes to just clear your heart and mind…just be still…in Him….I know I needed to. Genesis 22:9-14 9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” 13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

As I re-read this, I found my own fatherhood coming to the forefront. I don’t know that I can realistically imagine what Abraham was feeling. Just the thought of knowing what God had instructed him to do…to sacrifice his only son..and the fact that Abraham was dutifully, obediently pressing forward…is unimaginable to me. How did he lead his son on this journey?...build an alter?...arrange the wood?...without just totally breaking down into tears…’cause I already am, and I’m just trying to put a few words to paper! And what about Isaac?...did he resist with tears and anguish?...How do you explain all this to a son as you…

…And then God intervenes!....and amongst all that has led up to this point in the story, Abraham responds the same way it began….”Here I am”…the response of servant. Given all that has been going on with him and his son…how does one do that?..and then God embraces Abraham...

” Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” …and Abraham’s “faith was made complete by what he did” (James 2:21-22) Dear Father, I hope and pray, that from now on…when You call on me…I will be able respond with obedience, courage & hope in You…the faith that Abraham had…fully knowing that Your Intervention has taken place by the provision…the sacrifice…of Your only Son, the Messiah, Jesus Christ…and then and only then, by His loving grace, will I truly be able to reply…”Here I am”.

Your Brother in Christ, jim