Daily Devotions - Entries tagged "Abraham"

Abraham was a man whose life, like ours, was full of adversity. How did he respond? What can we learn from his example? Two weeks ago, Pastor Rob explored the first of two crucial episodes in Abraham’s life that demonstrated his faith (as recorded in Heb. 11:8-10). This week we’ll explore the second two (Heb. 11:11-19).

The devotionals this week were written by Jonathan Ziman, Community Life Pastor for Singles here at Wheaton Bible Church.

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.

In Pastor Rob’s book, When the Bottom Drops Out, there are countless examples of men and women who endured all kinds of adversity. Fatal illness, chronic disease, emotional turmoil…we would never choose any of it. Yet we are called to walk through it nonetheless, and, as Pastor Rob has argued, “In the hands of God, there is always advantage to adversity.”

However, among the great acts of faith recorded in Hebrews is another kind of situation entirely. After waiting years and years for the child of promise to be born, God presented Abraham with a test, asking him to sacrifice “his one and only son.” As Pastor Rob explains in his book, the ethical/moral problems involved here are not the concern of the author of Hebrews. The question is rather one of faith. What will Abraham do? How will he respond? He has shown great faith in the past, but what about now? Can he give up his most treasured possession, his one and only son?

“Sacrifice,” Pastor Rob says, “is saying no to something you prefer, so you can say yes to God.”[1] It’s a straight-forward concept to teach, but something altogether different to live out. For Pastor Rob it involved a willingness to let go of his wife Carol and his friend Tom, releasing them into God’s hands. Was it easy or straightforward or unemotional? Of course not. But it was an act of faith to realize that the path through the pain was not to be found in clinging tightly to those he loved, but trusting completely in the One who loves him.

Abraham’s life teaches us that we must, “by faith, sacrifice for God, even when it costs [us] everything.”[2] Who or what might God be calling you to let go of today?

God,

This is a hard lesson for me to live out. I can give up little things like my TV or my phone, but you know the big things I have a death grip on. Help me to relinquish control; help me to let go; help me to give it all to you, trusting in your perfect plans.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

Abraham was a man whose life, like ours, was full of adversity. How did he respond? What can we learn from his example? Two weeks ago, Pastor Rob explored the first of two crucial episodes in Abraham’s life that demonstrated his faith (as recorded in Heb. 11:8-10). This week we’ll explore the second two (Heb. 11:11-19).

The devotionals this week were written by Jonathan Ziman, Community Life Pastor for Singles here at Wheaton Bible Church.

Today we are reading and meditating on Hebrews 11:11-12. The text below is taken from the New International Version, but feel free to read from the version of your choice.

By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

We live in a culture that thrives on beating the odds. We love to root for the underdog. We’re convinced that mountains are made to be climbed. We can do anything, be anything, go anywhere…nothing can hold us back.

But then reality comes crashing in. The cancer doesn’t get better, but worse. The loneliness of being single for twenty years starts to weigh more and more heavily and we find ourselves wondering if God even hears our prayers anymore.

When prayer has gone on for years, seemingly without any effect, how does God expect us to respond? How have you responded in your life?

Now, look back at these verses from Hebrews. What seemed impossible to Abraham and Sarah?

Despite the incredible promise of God, after twenty-five years they were still without children. How would God provide so many descendants without even one child to get them started?

Pastor Rob, in his book, When the Bottom Drops Out, refers to this as “waiting in the middle.” It’s messy and difficult and even frustrating at times, but nonetheless a part of life that God has ordained for us to experience. The way through, Pastor Rob says, is to “By faith, stay confident in God, even when the situation seems impossible.”[1]

What is the “messiness in the middle” that you are struggling through right now?

Lord,

I praise you because you alone are holy. You alone are good. You alone can bring healing and hope. Please help me to remain confident in you, even as everything around me seems to be crumbling away. I need you Lord today—please let me feel your presence as we walk through this together.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

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 the dead.

Today we are reading and meditating on Hebrews 11:9-10. The text below is taken from the New International Version, but feel free to read from the version of your choice.

By faith [Abraham] made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

About two months after Gracia Burnham and her husband, Martin, were kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf, a militant Islamic group in the Philippines, she reached a low point of despair. Her captors marched them through the jungle all day yet Gracia was unable to sleep at night. Her mind was tormented by thoughts like, “You trust in the Lord, but you’re still here.”

While sitting with her husband by a river one day, Gracia told him that while she still believed that God was the Creator and Savior, she no longer believed that He loved them. Gently, he responded, “It seems to me that either you believe it all, or else you don’t believe at all.”

While she wasn’t ready to accept Martin’s words right then, she kept thinking about what he had said. A few days later, while sitting by the river again, she realized she had a choice: She could either give in to her resentment or, by faith, she could choose to believe God’s Word. She felt as if God was telling her, “If you’re going to believe that I died for you, why not believe that I love you? Why don’t you let me put my arms around you and love you?”

Gracia gave up. She turned over all her pain and anger to God. “From that day on,” she writes, “the Lord somehow let me know in my spirit that he was still faithful.”[1]  

Gracia Burnham was able to live out the second principle that Abraham teaches us: By faith, wait for God, even when it appears He’s forgotten you. Gracia had to trust God during a year-long captivity—and even more so when her husband was killed by the crossfire during a gun battle.

And what was the secret of Gracia and Martin’s faith? Neither engaged in positive thinking for its own sake; instead, like Abraham in today’s passage, they were “looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” They were focused on heaven, our ultimate destination, the place where we will meet our Lord face to face.

Both also chose to listen to the voice of God. Apparently God spoke directly to Abraham. While Gracia neither heard an audible voice nor even had a Bible to read while in captivity, she reflected on the words of Scripture passages and hymns that she had memorized in years past.

Perhaps you wonder if God has forgotten your situation today. You might even question if He really loves You. If so, ask Him to put His arms around you and love you. Invite Him to fill you with joy and hope at the thought of heaven.

Lord Jesus,

I confess that in the midst of my pain it can be easy to listen to the voice that tells me I should doubt your love. Please break through that today and help me feel Your love. Fill my spirit with hope as I consider living with You forever in heaven one day.

Amen.

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.  8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.