Brown's Daily Word 11/6/14

   Praise the Lord for this New Day.  He blessed us with a wonderful Wednesday evening gathering for fellowship and study.  As we prepare for Thanksgiving I am reminded  from the Word of the Lord: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change"  (James 1:17).  All good things come from Him.  God gives us all these good things.  They make us feel comfortable and safe.  They give us a sense of security or achievement.

    What happens when God wants them back?  God gave Isaac to Abraham.  It is written that the Lord asked Abraham to give back Isaac ... to Him.  "By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice."  He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.'  Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death" (Hebrews 11:17-19).  "So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac.  And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.  On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.  Then Abraham said to his young men, ‘Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you'" (Genesis 22:3-5). 

     It is mind boggling for me to know that  Abraham did not hesitate to follow God's commands.  Early that morning, after God spoke to him, he got up, saddled up and did not let up until he ended up at the place of sacrifice.  God had promised a son to Abraham on multiple occasions.  When Abraham and Sarah took the matter into their own hands, when he slept with her servant Hagar, God didn't accuse, God didn't renege.  He simply said, "This child won't be your heir.  You will have a son by Sarah."  Abraham and Sarah both laughed at that.  God said, "Fine! We'll call the baby Laughter.  Through Isaac (meaning "he laughs") you will become a great nation."

    As the record shows, all happened just as God said it would.  Our God can be trusted.  This was a promise kept after decades of mercy and love.  In addition, God had told Abraham that this great nation he would father would begin with none other than Isaac.  Abraham's faith was reasonable, resolute and rewarded.  When tested, he trusted; and so he triumphed.

    When we walk by faith and not by sight, when we keep on trusting the Lord when the going gets rough and tough He reveals to us His magnitude and greatess.  Often we miss out on those blessings of miracles because we fail to trust Him to the end.  Abraham, however, trusted the Lord's promises in the face of adversities and impossibilities.

I love the words of the hymn:

    But we never can prove

    the delights of His love
    until all on the altar we lay
    for the favor He shows
    and the joy He bestows
    are for them who will trust and obey.

 From another Hymn:

    Jesus, the very thought of Thee
    With sweetness fills the breast;
    But sweeter far Thy face to see,
    And in Thy presence rest.
    Nor voice can sing, nor heart can frame,
    Nor can the memory find
    A sweeter sound than Thy blest Name,
    O Savior of mankind!
    O hope of every contrite heart,
    O joy of all the meek,
    To those who fall, how kind Thou art!
    How good to those who seek!
    But what to those who find? Ah, this
    Nor tongue nor pen can show;
    The love of Jesus, what it is,
    None but His loved ones know.
    Jesus, our only joy be Thou,
    As Thou our prize will be;
    Jesus be Thou our glory now,
    And through eternity.

     God isn't a robber.  He's a giver!  God gives and gives and gives.  He gives us things to use.  He gives us people to love. He gave us His Son, Jesus Christ.  Indeed, what God stopped Abraham from doing, He Himself did.  He didn't spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all.

    "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you offer your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service" (Romans 12:1).

In Christ,

  Brown

http://youtu.be/4jyrpdztKIg