“He calls us into the unknown, not because He’s teasing us, but because He already knows.”
~ Julie Maw
personal
But Where Is The Lamb For The Burnt Offering?
Abraham Tested
22 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 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.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
—
Father, forgive me for the absence of my sacrifice. Countless times, I have brought the fire and the wood, but I have brought no lamb for the burnt offering. I have lifted my hands and uttered with my lips, but my heart was not ready to give you everything. The altar I prepared was empty, meaningless, void. I was only willing to prepare the altar, but never willing to offer up the things I hold dear.
Help me to remember that Your name is above everything else. To love You, I must give You everything else that I love. Nothing must be before you, and everything that is must be placed at the altar before You. I ask for courage, faith and obedience birthed from love, to place my sacrifice on the altar and pierce it through the heart. I want to come broken, naked and vulnerable before You, with a spirit that is willing to be guided by You and a heart willing to be moulded by you. Amen.
—
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram[a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
Lamentations
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
—
It always strikes me that these few verses are found in the book of Lamentations, and it’s even more surprising to know that it is embedded in a chapter full of sorrow and despair.
Lamentations chapter 3 begins with the very words ‘I am a man who has seen affliction’. His life is full of disappointment and bitterness, to the point that his chains are too heavy. He is tied down, trapped, helpless in his situation.
Yet, despite this, the author quickly turns from his despair and remembers the Lord. He has hope and continues to remember the Lord and what he has done for him. And that is how I must look to the Lord.
“I called on your name, O Lord,
from the depths of the pit;
you heard my plea, ‘Do not close
your ear to my cry for help!’
You came near when I called on you;
You said, ‘Do not fear!’
Answers To Little Prayers
I’m currently in the middle of exams and I just wanted to share how God answered my funny little prayer during my paper yesterday.
There wasn’t enough time during the paper yesterday, I was writing as fast as I could and (hopefully) thinking as fast as I could. And it was two minutes to the end of the paper and I still wasn’t done, so I quickly uttered a prayer: ‘God, I need the time. PLEASE STOP TIME!!!’
And just as I finished writing my full stop to the last point, the invigilator told us to stop writing. ‘Actually, the clock wasn’t not very accurate. So you’ve just had two extra minutes of writing’.
Amen!
My Joy Is Complete
27 John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven…Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
John 3:27-30
Every thing is given to me from heaven. Therefore, this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.
Obedience
But Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
1 Samuel 15:22
Drawing Near In The Storm
What is your storm?
Every storm is different – some are ripples, some are whirlpools that threaten to throw us overboard.
For all of us, the storm is very difficult. Many of us want to be left alone, and many of us want to handle the storm on our own.
Tonight, I was reminded that Jesus beckons me to draw nearer to Him, even as I labour through the storm. And again, I was comforted by the assurance and certainty that I have in Him. It reminds me why I am a Christian – not just a Sunday church-going Christian – but a Christian with a personal relationship with a God who cares and communicates with me.
It reminds me why I still hold on to Christianity – because apart from the hope I have of salvation, I have a hope and anchor for my whole life. Every step is a step with God, and each trial leads to a stronger, more faithful and trusting relationship with God.
May this journey bring a blessing,
May I rise on wings of faith
Taken from ‘He Restores My Soul’ by A 365 Morning Light Devotional
She Laughs Without Fear Of The Future
She is clothed with strength and dignity,
and she laughs without fear of the future.
This was a verse that was given to me by a dear friend over Christmas, and I am thankful that I was reminded today of this verse.
As the pastor in my church said on Sunday, I am a full-time Christian, and only part-time university student/future solicitor.
When I remember that my fulfilment is in Christ, then my day job will pale in significance to my true calling.
My Blog’s First Year Anniversary!
I just received a wordpress notification – ‘Happy Anniversary with WordPress.com! You registered on WordPress.com one year ago! Thanks for flying with us.’
How time flies! Within this one year,I have learned and grown so much. As much as I have not been consistently blogging, I feel like it is a little part of my life now and I am ever thankful that I get to pen my thoughts, songs of the day and reflections.
My blog has had over 5000 views (not much, but I am thankful for those views!) I pray and hope that in some little way, God was able to touch the heart of each viewer through what He has encouraged me to write. Be it my daily struggles, my Christian walk, my testimony or just the songs that I post, I hope that you have been able to see the God that I see, and love the God that I love.
With this, I leave you with three points:
1. Update on Lent
It’s the second day of Lent and as promised, I am trying to give up pessimism. Today didn’t start out too well, given that there was an essay due, I still don’t understand land law, and exam preparation is looming. It reminded me of how difficult it is to give pessimism up. I realise that there are days where I literally live for pessimism. I thrive on pessimism and the worries of my life. If there are worries, I worry. If there are no worries, I worry more. Thus, it has been hard to hide the clouds and bring the sunshine out in my mind.
Also, there is a fine line between pessimism and being realistic. I suppose that I first started out being realistic, but that evolved into pessimism. But then again, I think the key is relying on God, because that reliance will allow me to be realistic about God’s outcome and optimistic about His plans in my life.
2. Live the YOLO life, live the Christian life
Having just come out of the Christian Evangelism week run by Durham University, I have been encouraged by the searching, curiosity and exploration by so many non-Christians. Yet, I also sense a lot of hesitation. Of course, there is a need to come to a coherent and reasoned decision to become a Christian but if this decision takes a long time to reach or think about, it eventually dies. It eventually becomes a decision not to become a Christian not because there was a clear decision not to, but rather because the interest waned.
I believe that every important decision in life should be made after much contemplation, and not through the waning of interest through time.
Besides, what have we got to lose? It’s like bungie jumping, take a deep breath and jump! It’s about the experience, the adrenaline, the excitement, the emotions.
If hypothetically, God does not exist, what have you got to lose? You lived your life with hope, assurance and love. And if God exists, even better! You made the right choice! You only live once, so don’t waste chances.
3. God loves you
If you haven’t already gotten the feel of my blog, it’s about His love. It’s about His guidance and relentless love.
There has not been a day that I thought a god could actually truly love me, my darkness and weird habits. Yet, in the bible, Jesus dwelt with the tax collectors, the poor, the prostitutes. I was all of them combined, but God chose me. I have been purified and lifted up as His princess.
You may not think He loves you, but that definitely does not change the fact that He loves you. How do I know that? Simple. Because Jesus saw everything you did and are doing now, but chose to die on the cross for you 2000 years ago. He looked into the future and saw you, and wanted to take your punishment. It’s like the song I used to sing as a child and I slowly began to understand the weight of those words:
You lived to die
Rejected and alone
Like a rose
Trampled on the ground
You took the fall
And thought of me
Above all
The greatest love of all of one that is willing to die for another. I cannot imagine a greater love.
And if you don’t feel it, well the best love is one that is reciprocated. Let Him into your life and let Him show His love. 🙂
So PTL for the blessing of blogging. Throwback to nights when I’ll run for the laptop to post a song or verse. Or those half an hours trying to type out a whole excerpt from a book. Or those emotional posts where I poured my heart out.
It’s been a wonderful experience and I can’t wait to write more.
In His love,
Isabel
Reason To Sing 