Gen 22:10-11
“10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!". "Here I am," he replied.”
10” וישׁלח אברהם את ידו ויקח את המאכלת לשׁחט את בנו
11 ׃ ויקרא אליו מלאך יהוה מן השׁמים ויאמר אברהם אברהם ויאמר הנני׃"
“10Shalach 'abraham 'eth yad laqach 'eth ma'akeleth shachaṭ 'eth ben. 11 qara' 'el male' yehovah min shamayim 'a mar 'abraham, 'abraham 'amar hinneh”
The story around this verse reveals four things we need to focus on if we want to effectively do the will of God.
Before we continue we have to understand the context of this verse. We have to try and put ourselves in Abraham’s shoes. This might be difficult for those of us who do not have children, but we need to try and imagine the following:
God promised Abraham over and over that he will have thousands of descendants. Their number is likened to the sands on the seashore or the stars in the sky. However, Abraham reaches the age of fifty and he has no son. He reaches the age of eighty, but there is still no sign of children. Eventually he turns ninety, but he remains childless.
Imagine the hope that he must have had based on the promise of God. He must have imagined all the things he was going to teach his children; all the things he wanted to show them, the memories he wanted to share with them… Yet at ninety five he was still childless…
Finally nearing a century, he gets a child from Hagar, one of Sarah’s maids. Soon after, at the age of 100, Isaac is born to Sarah. Abraham waited a century; one hundred years before he had a son with Sarah! Imagine the absolute joy he must have experienced!
Now, skip a few years ahead: Ishmael has been cast out and now God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac…
Imagine waiting one hundred years for something awesome God promised you, then, after having it for only a few years, God asks that you sacrifice this child to him…
Now, let us look at four things Abraham had that we need to effectively do the will of God:
1) The Obedience to do God’s will:
Put yourself in Abraham’s shoes…
If God asked you to sacrifice your son, the son you have waited a hundred years for, giving you no reason as to why this must happen and no explanation as to how this sacrifice would accomplish anything… Would you do what God asks?
Most people will find this a very difficult order to follow. No sane person would easily be able to say yes. It is due to the difficulty in following this order that God chose it. God could have asked him to sacrifice a few cattle (and Abraham would rather give a 1000 cattle in place of his son), he could have asked anything, including one of his hundreds of slaves, but God does not ask for any of those things. God asks for his son, his one and only son… God asks Abraham for his laughter (Isaac means laughter), the one thing he holds so dear and so close to his heart…
God sometimes asks us to sacrifice the things that are most important to us in order to follow Him. Each of us has our own valuable possession. This could be something physical that has great value (either monetary or sentimental), or it could be a habit. The question is: If God asked you to sacrifice that item, would you do it?
Abraham does what very few people would be able to do. He takes his son, preparing to sacrifice him.
2) The Faith to trust God’s will:
Abraham knows that Isaac was the child through which God promised him so many descendents. If he kills this child the great number of descendants will be forfeited. Yet, despite all of this, Abraham takes his only son anyway…
On the way there his son asks him where the lamb is that they are going to sacrifice. Abraham replies by saying that God will provide one.
Abraham absolutely believed that he will not lose his son that day. He believed that God will either provide a lamb or otherwise raise Isaac from the dead. Abraham had absolute faith, fully prepared to sacrifice his only son that day.
Abraham trusted God and His promises. He knew that God made a covenant with Isaac and nothing would change that. That is why Abraham believed that even if he sacrifices Isaac, God would raise him from the dead to fulfill the promises He made.
We are all called to have this kind of trust every day of our lives. God promises us that He will take care of us. He promises us that He will protect us. Abraham understood that God does not break promises, so why do so many Christians? The Lord will never leave or abandon us. When we are born again, we enter into a covenant with God. God will keep all the promises He makes in His Word. There is no question as to whether He can or will! It is already a done deal. All we have to do is have faith – the faith that Abraham had that day.
3) The Ears to hear God’s will:
“But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven ‘Abraham! Abraham!’ ‘Here I am’ he replied.”
What good is it to have faith and obedience to do God’s will, if we cannot hear what God’s will is?
Looking at this verse we see that Abraham was only moments away from sacrificing his only son. Imagine the emotions he must have been experiencing. This must have been one of the most difficult times, if not the most difficult, in his entire life. This was a dark and terrible time for him.
We all go through dark and terrible times. We all face circumstances that are so difficult that we don’t know how we are going to get through them. The good news is that God will always be with us, no matter where we are.
Now we need to learn a lesson from Abraham. He was going through this very dark time, yet he remained close to the Lord and was able to hear the angel’s call… Imagine how history would have changed if Abraham did not hear the angel…
As we go through dark times, we have to stay close to God in order to hear Him. It is in those times that we need His leadership most! Abraham was in such a situation, however, he was expecting the Lord to intervene, so he was desperately seeking God’s voice. In our tough times we must faithfully expect God to bring us through safely as well, so instead of relying on ourselves, we must open our ears and desperately seek guidance from God. If Abraham didn’t listen, history would have been totally different; if we don’t listen history can also change drastically.
4) The Time to listen to God’s will:
Imagine if Abraham decided to tell the angel to wait because he was just in the middle of something…
God can and will speak to us at random times; He is not confined to our quiet times! We must make sure that we have time for God!
As we see in this example, Abraham was in the middle of doing something God commanded him to do. Sometimes we might be in the middle of something that we think cannot be rescheduled, however, what we think and what God knows can be two very different things… Sometimes God needs us to listen, even when we think we are suppose to be doing something else. That is why, in the middle of worship, people suddenly get revelations and prophesies from the Lord. This is not the only time God speaks to us, however, this is one of the few times that people actually listen! During worship people are tuned in to God and can hear His voice much clearer.
We have to focus on spending more time tuned in to God. The more time we spend listening to God, the more He will reveal to us.
Remember that prayer is a form of communication and communication is a two-way road. We must give ourselves time to speak to God and we must give ourselves time to listen to God. Try the following exercise during your next quiet time (if you are not already doing it). Take at least five minutes where you just sit quietly, waiting on the Lord. Give God time to have a conversation with you! God uses more than just the Bible to communicate!
When we combine these four elements we greatly increase the effectiveness with which we accomplish God’s will.
Here is an example: Imagine if people ignored the voice of God and did not take the time to tell Joyce Meyer about the Lord… Imagine if people ignored the voice of God and no one ever told T.D. Jakes about the Lord… Millions of lives would be drastically different today because of it!
Even the smallest thing, like telling someone about the Lord, can change the lives of millions! We must never underestimate God’s plan!
Therefore we must use enough time to build our relationship with God, have the ears to hear God’s will, the faith to believe in it and the obedience to carry it out.
