From the pen of Brother Dennis Sampson, Genesis 22:7 “…And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Three days earlier Abraham had been instructed by God to take his son Isaac to a far away place and sacrifice him in an altar. God didn’t really want Abraham to make a human sacrifice, He wanted Abraham to be fully accepting of His will. He already knew that He would provide an animal for Abraham to sacrifice but Abraham needed to be willing to exercise his faith in God to provide. During the 50 mile trek, which took three days, Abraham had to decide if he would really go through with this commandment or not. He had to come to grips with what it could possibly mean to the promise God had made him concerning his son Isaac. Also he had to figure out what to say to Isaac once he realized they had no animal to sacrifice. We often think about Isaac being a little boy at this time. That if need be his dad could have just thrown him over his shoulder and carried him up. But study of the wording of the text shows he was either a teenager or in his early 20’s when this happened and either way Abraham was 100 years older than him. No fighting or arguments are recorded, Isaac went along with the plan willingly. Of course God did supply an animal just before Abraham went to slay Isaac. God does supply a way when He gives the orders. As many of you know I have been working on getting my first book published. From the very beginning of the process, the deciding to do it part, I have had questions about it. Am I really doing right? Is this really what it should be about? Why isn’t someone else doing this, God do you have the right person here? Each step of the way has brought with it more questions. God has answered them each time. This morning I received word that the book has officially gone into production. That’s great, now when can I start ordering copies, when will it be actually published, what about this and that???? All good questions and all will be answered in time. Sometimes we don’t get the answers we want and sometimes we don’t get the answer at all. Patience stinks! It is however necessary for this life. By the way with Abraham, it wasn’t a matter of Isaac being born and the next day God saying go sacrifice the child. Abraham had to wait 100 years just for Isaac to be born. During that entire time God was building his faith up so that he could one face that test. If you got questions about your service for God that can be a good thing; if you will seek Him for the answers that is.
His blog can be read at: preacherdsj.wordpress.com