Devotion Booklets for Seasons of the Church Year Lent 2019 | Page 5

Thursday, March 7, 2019
This Is the God We Worship
Genesis 22:6-14
Imagine that it is your greatest desire to have children. Imagine having to wait until you are almost 100 years old
to have your first child. Imagine being so happy to have your first child that you laugh out loud. Imagine
naming that child based on your joyful laughter. Imagine, then, as that child grows up, being told by God to
take your child and sacrifice him on an altar.
It is the kind of story that a new Christian might read and think, “What have I gotten myself into? God wanted
Abraham to do what? This is the God I worship?”
God had promised to Abraham that his son, Isaac, would be his heir. But now God is telling Abraham to
sacrifice Isaac. So which is it? Would Abraham’s line continue through Isaac as God had promised? Or would
Abraham kill Isaac as God had commanded?
Being a Christian might sometimes feel like we live lives of contradiction. God promises that he will bless us. But
who among us has not experienced heartache? How many of us have never faced uncertainty at work or at
school?
The truth is that we face uncertainty every day. We live in a world steeped in sin, the result of which is discord
between humanity and a holy God.
But God knows this about us. He knows our weaknesses and struggles. And he provides for us. In the case of
Abraham, God demonstrated that he would always keep his promise. God would always provide for Abraham
and his descendants.
To us God demonstrates the same commitment. In fact, through Abraham and Isaac God proves his love and
provision for us. From the line of Abraham God sent us a substitute. He sent us a Savior who would die in our
place. In other words, God did the very thing he had commanded Abraham to do.
What amazing love our God has for us. He never demands anything of us that he does not give us in Christ. He
tells us to love our neighbor. What more perfect love toward neighbor could there be than to give up one’s life as
Jesus did for us? He tells us to love him. What more perfect love toward God could there be than to submit
completely to his Father’s will as Jesus did in sacrificing himself for us?
Jesus is your perfect substitute. Everything that God asks of you, he has given you in Christ.
PRAYER: Christ, what you weren’t, you became – foul and filthy; Cursed, people found you appalling. What I
was not, I’ve become – found “Not guilty!” I need you now; hear me calling! Lord, I am ruined. I have left you;
I need rescue. Lord, I am pleading: show your favor, be my Savior. Amen.
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