Red Wednesday's Wisdom - CHG #9, Part One

Focus and Surrender My Life to God’s Control
Our SW this past week, was to ask God to help us to hear that one word, the rhema word, that He had for each one of us, and then have the Scripture to back it up.  For me, that one word was obedience.  I was drawn to this word as I wrote last week’s posting that said, “Listening means that I do what God tells me to do.  This is called obedience.’’

Listening = obedience.

As I was being gravitated to this word, my thoughts immediately went to Abraham of the Bible and CHG #9, which I am introducing to you today.  CHG #9 tells us to focus and surrender our lives to the control of God.  The Scripture basis of this CHG is found in Genesis 22:1-2, and it directly addresses obedience. It says, “Later on God tested Abraham’s Faith and obedience.  'Abraham!'  God called.  'Yes,' he replied.  'Here I am.'  'Take your son, your only son – yes Isaac, whom you love so much – and go to the land of Moriah.  Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will point out to you.' ”

I am sure we all have our imaginations in full gear as we contemplate what was going on in Abraham’s mind and how he felt about God’s command.  When I thoughtfully, carefully, and prayerfully examine this Scripture and study other Scriptures that tell me about the character of God, the character of Abraham, and the relationship that these two had with one another, I do come to appreciate how the relationship between God and Abraham  is a prototype of the relationship that God wants to have with me, and the one that He wants to have with you.
 
Let’s break down Genesis 22:1-2 to reflect and meditate on how it can help us to lessen our clutter as we learn how to focus and surrender control to God by looking at the relationship between God and Abraham.  Notice that the Scripture starts out by telling us that God had a test for Abraham, and it reminds me of how God has been in the business of testing since the beginning of time.  What is a test?  It is a critical examination, observation, or evaluation.  Who is being tested?  It is the student.  What is being tested?  Abraham, the student, is being tested on his faith and obedience.  I appreciate the simplicity of how God gets Abraham’s focus just by the calling out of his name with an exclamation.  What follows is Abraham acknowledging the history he has shared with God by giving this simple response back, “Yes.  Here I am.”  It takes time to build relationships that go through numerous trials and errors, and they can only become rock solid when there is mutual trust, mutual respect, and mutual love. Abraham and God had that kind of relationship.

When God tells Abraham, “Take your son, your only son – yes, Isaac whom you love so much,” I see the heart of God expressing a compassionate command that reminds, reinforces, and emphasizes the lessons that Abraham has learned through his trials and errors with God.  Though God had promised a son to Abraham and his barren wife Sarah, Abraham took matters into His own hands when he did not see God coming through with His promise within the time that he had anticipated.  And because Abraham did not wait on the Lord’s timely promise, he and Sarah arranged an intimate night for Abraham to be with Sarah’s bondservant who provided Abraham with a son, and that conceived child was named Ishmael.  Later Isaac was indeed born to Abraham and Sarah, but this promise actually took 25 years to be fulfilled! If you want to find out just how much clutter this caused, go to Genesis 11 where the story of Abraham begins.  And if you are really industrious, research the history on this family to discover how their clutter continues to impact the world on a global level.
 
Abraham is directed to take Isaac to Moriah and sacrifice him there as a burnt offering. In the Hebrew, Moriah means ordained.  Abraham was God’s ordained man, and through the years Abraham learned to appreciate what that meant.  He knew he could believe God, trust Him, and obey Him, even when it made no sense. He had learned that God was God and he was not. 

This coming week, your SW is to examine the word obedience:
1. How has dis-obedience caused more clutter in your life?
2. How has obedience made your life less cluttered?
3. Read Genesis 22 to find out how this story about Abraham and Isaac plays out. 

Pleases keep in mind that no matter how familiar a story may be to you, or how often you have read certain Scriptures, remind yourself to slow down, focus, and drink them in with a fresh new openness. Receive them with a child like excitement, and you can look forward to the prompting of the Holy Spirit!