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He said, “Take 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.”  Genesis 22:2

When God calls me to a difficult act of obedience, because there appears to be great risk involved, I label it ‘blind obedience’.  But, is it really?

There is nothing more difficult than what Abraham was told to do with Isaac.  To obey was agonizing.  Yet, I contend that his obedience wasn’t blind.

• Blindness is not having any idea where to put your feet.  Abraham walked each step toward Moriah on the foundational stones of God’s character.
• Blindness is not being able to perceive what is ahead.  When I obey God, I know what’s ahead; the blessing and spiritual prosperity that comes with following God’s instructions.
• Blindness involves the fear of falling and causing great personal injury.  Abraham knew the God who held him fast and had already experienced His supernatural protection and provision.
• Blindness involves great risk.  But ‘risky’ usually means foolish.  God is not careless with His children.  There is no risk when I walk in the purposes God has always had planned for me.  Though pain will be part of it, the joy of eternal purposes being fulfilled far outweigh it.  No risk involved.

Obedience is not blind.  With my faith intact, there are so many things I can count on and see with my spirit-eyes.  In fact, there’s 20/20 vision.  God’s history, recounted in the pages of scripture, show me the outcome of those who remember God and walk in His ways.

What has God told you to do.  You’re fainting, perhaps.  Frozen in place.  You were told to leave a family business.  Start a new ministry.  Confront a family member.  Stay in a marriage where you are not loved.  Without faith in God’s character, courage will not come to you.  Please know that you can embark on this journey to Moriah with a full backpack.  Love, promises, a solid history of the One you follow, future blessing, and perfect companionship.

Silence the voice of the accuser who reminds me that the stakes are too high.  The only voice I want to hear is Yours, Lord, urging me to follow You and live!  Amen

At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do. Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned.”  Genesis 21:22-23

Why would a king with an army be intimidated by a traveling herdsman and his family?  Because he saw evidence of the presence of God.  God calls the poor and inadequate, shows them His favor, surrounds them with His presence and power, and even kings will tremble.

God’s people have always been outnumbered.  Kingdom mathematics never make sense on paper.  Gideon drove off 135,000 with only 300 soldiers.  Samson killed 1000 men with a donkey’s jawbone.  God predicted these incredible odds.  He said, “Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand – your enemies will fall before your sword.”  If I put the two fractions side by side – then one hundred should only defeat two thousand.  But God promises ten thousand.  I ask my king, “Such blessing is really mine?”  Yes.  I can rely, as God’s child, on kingdom mathematics.  The effect of the presence of God on my life is intimidating to my spiritual enemies.

Paul wanted each of us to know that when we put on the spiritual armor our Father has provided to us for our protection, we are really putting on the Lord Jesus Christ.  The effect of ‘wearing’ Christ like a cloak around our shoulders has cataclysmic kingdom effects.  There will be sparks and I should not be surprised by them.  The greater the oppression in the person I’m talking to, the greater the friction.  I will see this person act out aggressively because of an entity they cannot name.

Clothed in spiritual power, I am to be bold when Jesus would be bold and show restraint when He would be ask me to be humble enough to wait on Him.  I must wear my power lightly.  Prayerful and humble, is my template.

Clothed in Your power, I ask that You make me gentle as a dove but also wise as a serpent.   Amen

Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. And God was with the boy, and he grew up.  Genesis 21:18 ESV

There have been times when I’ve accused people for not being there when I needed them.  Later, I found out that they had not been absent at all.  They reached out, they did something anonymously, but I just didn’t know it at the time.  I have learned, quite ashamedly, to be slower to point the finger.

Hagar, while praying for water, couldn’t see the provision of it though it was right in front of her.  God had to open her eyes to it.  Perhaps she was too overcome with grief to see her salvation.

Of all those we could blame for being undependable, God is usually high on the list.  We review our lives, the worst of the worst experiences, and wonder why He didn’t do more at the time.  He promises healing now ~ but then ~ He held back a rescue?  This view on our past causes us to back up from the One who can help us. 

The Well is accessible and ready to give me taste after taste of Living Water.  I don’t have to travel anywhere.  I don’t have to make an appointment.  I don’t have to wonder if He’ll see me.  I have 24/7 access to the One who has exactly what I need at this very moment.  But all these truths have no benefit if:

• I’m tired of not getting what I believe I need the most.
• I’m weary of relying on promises I haven’t seen fulfilled yet.
• I distrust the One who allowed my story to involve a wilderness.
• I believe someone else’s distorted view of who God is and how His kingdom works.
• I believe my pain is His punishment.

 The Comforter I need is right here, now.  The Promise I need is here, too.  There Well is full. He’s refreshing.  He’s inexhaustible.  He doesn’t disappoint.  The most necessary thing I’ll do all day is pinpoint the reason I walk to the well and choose not to drink. 

Be my Counselor and take me through the minefields of lies and misconceptions.  At the end, offer me a drink, again.  Amen

Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”  Genesis 21:16-18 ESV

Hagar held her nearly dead child in her arms.  Her voice was weak.  She was dehydrated and half starved.  No water or provision of food was in sight.  She smelled death but refused to succumb to what seemed to be the inevitable.  She poured out her complaint to the God of Israel.  Where did she learn this?  From the very ones who forced her out of their presence.  Oh, the irony.

Hagar, the least likely spiritual leader, shows each of us the way to glory.  She prayed, listened, cast her hopes on God, and then obeyed.  She lifted up her boy to the God who breathes life into dead souls.  She did not know that a thousand years later, Ezekiel would watch God breathe over a whole valley of corpses and bring them to their feet.  By the breath of His mouth, He would transform skeletons into warriors.

Was God true to His promise to Hagar? Did he make Ishmael the father of a great nation?  Yes.  Many Palestinians have, and will, trust Christ.  When they meet their Lord, how passionate they are about their Savior!

Will God hear me when I take what is weak, infirmed, perhaps even dead, and lift it toward heaven?  Yes. Hagar was told to lift Ishmael up and hold him fast with her hands.  Instead of laying him down in defeat, she embraced him in heartfelt prayer and invested her heart in hope.  And oh, what an outcome. 

I’ve laid some things down prematurely.  You long to breathe over all things expired.  Amen

So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.  Genesis 21:14

What was it like when you got the worst news of your life?  You felt your stomach fall to the floor.  “This can’t be happening to me,” you said to yourself.  “I have to be dreaming and any minute, I’ll wake up from this nightmare.” 

Surely, these were Hagar’s thoughts.  Homeless?  Her life with Abraham had given her security.  Surely someone who loves and serves God wouldn’t be sending she and her son out to the wilderness to die!  Family doesn’t act like that!  Sometimes they do. 

And sometimes, what once seemed impossible has just fallen upon me.  I’ve been the recipient of earth-shattering news, several times.  I was numb for weeks before the tears set in. So, did Hagar weep as she left Abraham’s camp or was she also without feeling, walking but not in touch with her feet?

The very time I need God is the time I can turn away from Him without shedding a tear.  My theology can easily take a bad turn.  I believe God doesn’t see, doesn’t care, and has turned into someone who breaks His promises.  Oh, but this very moment a grand opportunity for faith, a time pregnant to ask for the grace to trust the One who appears untrustworthy. This is the time to put up my shield of faith. 

I know the battle.  I did it again this morning at 5:00 a.m.  Will you join me today where faith and faithlessness intersect?  

In my Hagar moment, I’m looking up instead of down.  Amen

And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing.  Genesis 21:8-9  ESV

Sarah laughed for joy when Isaac was born.  But Ishmael laughed in scorn when Isaac was weaned.  A great party was thrown in Isaac’s honor and the scoffing of the elder son dampened the celebration.

If only Sarah could have done things differently years before. When God’s promise of conception didn’t occur for next 25 years, she concocted her own solution.  She told Abraham to sleep with Hagar to produce a son.  Oh, how that haunted her on this day as Ishmael, a son whom she also loved but conceived outside of God’s will, mocked her Isaac.  Paul described the dynamics well. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. Gal. 4:29 ESV

I can be sure that whatever I make happen in the flesh will collide with what God is doing through my spirit.  Dead works and Spirit-breathed endeavors strain against each other. One is of God.  One is not.  Children even perceive the difference.  Cruel things are said on the playgrounds as Christian children are despised and taunted.

Where is there holy conflict today?  Perhaps your church is a mixed bag.  There are righteous pockets of activity, places where God’s Spirit is breathing abundant life into those who are spiritually hungry.  This, unfortunately, co-exists alongside fleshly ministries that are birthed through ambition instead of prayer.  Enthusiasm is mistaken for holy fervor.  Know this ~ that whatever is of the flesh and whatever is of the Spirit ~ create sparks when in proximity.  There will be a kingdom clash that no amount of mediation will be able to fix.  What is the remedy?  Things of the flesh need to be exposed and repented of at the altar.  Oh, that our homes and churches would cease being divided kingdoms.

May Your kingdom come to the messes of our own making.  Amen

The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac.  Genesis 21:1-3

As I look back at Abraham and Sarah’s life, it’s easy to see that God fulfilled every single promise.  But He did it in ‘His appointed time,’ not theirs.  From their perspective, He took too long.  While they waited, they doubted, they blamed, and then took matters into their own hands. Oh, how hard it is when promises take an interminable amount of time to materialize.

One day, when others look back at my life, they will see that God fulfilled every promise He made to me.  It is I who often struggle during seasons of waiting.  Because some promises haven’t come true when I think they should have, I can distrust the One who made them.  But as I review God’s mega-story, I am again overwhelmed with the nature and character of the Promise-Giver.  He has never, ever, broken His Word.

From the time God first promised the birth of Isaac, to the time Sarah conceived, was 25 years.  Yet, that’s nothing.  The ‘appointed time’ for the birth of Abraham’s greater offspring would occur 2,000 years later, in the birth of Christ.  God is never pressured to act outside of His perfect providence.

I have been guilty of judging my life, and my effectiveness, by worldly standards.  The prime of life, supposedly, occurs in one’s thirties.  By the time any of us are fifty, others assume that we’ve peaked and are near retirement.  It’s hogwash.  God didn’t even make the promise about Isaac until Abraham was seventy-five.  Some of the most effective trailblazers for the kingdom hadn’t even warmed up at fifty.  When God promises fruitfulness, it will not be compromised by our age, our education, our natural abilities, or the lack of.  When God calls us, we are equipped.  Period.  His promises will be fulfilled ‘at the appointed time’ and we can know this ~ it will be right on time.  In this we rest – as we wait.

You know what I still pray for ~ and in what promises I stand.  I adjust my clock to Your calendar.  Amen

And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see, that you did this thing, [turn over your wife to me]?” Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, ‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’  Genesis 20:10-11

Sometimes it appears that I am completely hemmed in. I decide that the only way of escape is to make a choice I would never otherwise make.  I acknowledge that it is against my better judgement, perhaps even my conscience. Yet, my rationale overrules.  Self-protection drives me to cave in, engaging in something unwise.

Abraham was in a tough spot. He had traveled into heathen territory. He feared for the lives of his family. He assumed that the king would act in an unconscionable way, killing him, securing Sarah for himself and seizing all of Abraham’s wealth along with her. It’s not that Abraham failed to be realistic about people. Heathens had a track record for acting this way.  It’s that he assumed the worst about God. He believed God was not strong enough to keep His promises. As it turned out, Abimelech had a strong conscience and once he discovered that Sarah was Abraham’s wife, he trembled in fear over the sin he almost committed.

What Abraham also did, and I never saw this before, was throw temptation before Abimelech. He provided the perfect opportunity for infidelity.  My bad choices always affect others.

I have learned two things the hard way. 1.) When there is no righteous solution, I should not move. Wait on God until He makes a way where there appears to be none.   2.) When the righteous solution appears to have a bad outcome, I obey God anyway and trust Him to lead me into spacious places.

You are my hiding place.  You are my mountain mover.  You are the one who changes the hearts of those who have the power to harm me.  I vow to trust You and not myself.  Amen

In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. Genesis 20:5-6 ESV

Does God ever see me when I’m about to sin and do something to prevent it? Apparently yes. And as a parent, I understand.  We often remove a temptation from a child because we know it is too much for them to handle.

To save the lives of his family, Abraham gave Sarah to a pagan king.  He did it to ‘help God’ ~ as he believed that he must take matters into his own hands to preserve the promises God had made regarding his descendants. Abimelech was the innocent party as he had no idea Sarah was married.  In making her a part of his harem, he would have slept with her but God intervened by revealing that Sarah was Abraham’s wife, not his sister. Fear gripped the king’s heart and he acted honorably toward Sarah for fear of the consequences.

I’m so glad that many of the things I have wanted, and asked for, God didn’t give me. God removed things, and people, that would have harmed me on my spiritual journey. It felt cruel years ago but time has revealed that God prevented dangerous detours in my spiritual journey. He kept me safe by saving me from myself. My spiritual immaturity would have acted out.

You may be experiencing the pain of loss. God seems unloving as He takes away what you believe you need. It can be a person, a resource, or an opportunity that holds promise. His direct involvement to block your way can be a stumbling block in your relationship with Him. The essence of Christianity is simple and childlike. Jesus loves me, He proved it, and I trust Him no matter what.  Period.

What is the answer when God appears guilty of withholding from me what is good? I remember this: The most brilliant rationales of men fall apart when measured against the goodness that drives the decisions of an omniscient and sovereign God.

However things appear today, You love me and always act in my best interest. When I distrust this, Lord, I put my heart in danger. Help my unbelief. In Jesus’ name, Amen

From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb sojourned in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.”  Genesis 20:1-3

Twenty years has passed since Abraham journeyed into Egypt, feared for his life while in the presence of a Pharaoh, and passed off Sarah as his sister to protect himself.  Pharaoh took Sarah as his own and God intervened to clean up the mess.  Now, Abraham is doing the same thing again.  Really?   He would do this twice?

But, it’s been twenty years after all.  It’s not like these events are weeks apart and the lesson of disobedience is still fresh.  After two decades, Abraham is having another crisis of faith and he falls again in an almost identical way.  Imagine that!  I am not going to throw stones as I review the ways I struggle with my faith and end up distrusting God in the exact same areas, over and over again.  There are patterns in my disobedience too. 

On this day, near the time of Isaac’s conception, Abraham’s choice to give up his wife to yet another king puts the entire Abrahamic line in jeopardy.  God is not passive as He watches this.  He is a Father who springs into action when Abraham messes things up.  His inexhaustible mercy causes Him to preserve the promises He made in covenant love.  For Abraham however, there will be a silent period.  His tent will be empty.  Sarah will be gone.  He will have nothing but time and quiet to reflect on His disobedient choices.  He cannot perceive all that God will do to rescue him.  Sarah’s absence screams hopelessness.

Are you in some crisis today?  Does it appear as if it’s the end?  You are also suffering in silence, unaware that God could be doing something on your behalf.  “Be confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”  Phil.1:6  God was active in Abraham’s storyline and you can be comforted that He works behind the scenes in your story too.  Even when you and I mess things up, He makes a way for our return.  He never lacks the ingenuity to know how to get our lives back on track even though we’re sure we’ve done irreparable damage.  Oh, how powerful repentance is as it unlocks the power of heaven.  God gives us grace to, not only weather the damage, but to then correct our self-willed detour.

I’m counting on Your active participation in my story today.  Have mercy on me as I wait to see evidence of Your saving hand.  Amen