Day - Man on a Mission
📖Daily Reading
Genesis 21-25
🎥 Video
Join me on my morning walk as we rise and shine together by walking through the Bible daily and learn a practical applicable coaching nugget from the ultimate life coach - our creator (whatever that means to you). No judgement zone here, all are welcome, we are all on a spiritual journey because we are after all spiritual beings having a human experience.
📝 Reflection
Genesis: 22: 15-18
'Then the angel of the Lord called again to Abraham from heaven. “This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.” '
Big HIStory making stuff happening in chapters 21-25 and parallel stories continuing to unfold. Abraham’s faith is tested as he is instructed to sacrifice his only son who he loves very much in Chapter 22. Even though technically this isn’t true, because well… Ishmael. He follows the instructions, until the last moment, when an angel of the lord, stops him as he is about to plunge the knife into Isaac. When we are on missions, our faith and determination will be tested! It isn’t a matter of if, but when. Will you follow through even when it doesn’t make sense? When you don’t want to? What are you willing to sacrifice?
Of course many of us know this story of Abraham and Isaac and the connection and the foreshadowing of the Crucifixion of Jesus and God following through with the sacrifice of his one and only son for humanity’s sake. So I am going to continue the thread from yesterday. Old way, Man on a mission vs. New way God on a mission.
Interesting parallels to notice. Abraham has Isaac carry the wood for the sacrifice on his shoulders. Jesus of course carried the cross. Isaac was laid horizontally on top of the wood to be sacrificed. Jesus is hung vertically on the cross. After God stops the sacrifice a ram is nearby caught in a thicket (thorns) to be the substitute sacrifice. Jesus is the sacrificial lamb who has to wear a crown of thorns (caught in a thicket). Ram vs. lamb, thicket of thorns vs. crown of thorns.
After the ram is sacrificed, God repeats the covenant promise again, a 4th time, and this time combines the prior three promises into one. As quoted in the scripture above; “I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sands on the seashore.” Abraham is on a mission to be the father of a great nation. This continues in the stories that follow this dramatic one.
Not long after this event we are told that Sarah dies. Abraham is still a foreigner living in a foreign land. He needs a proper burial place for Sarah. So he goes to strike a deal with a plot of land that has a cave on it. The locals want to give it to him, they respect him great deal and in fact they even remind him that he is honored like a prince. They insist that he be gifted the land, he insists on paying. He refuses to accept it as a gift. Mission focused, he will not be a part of another nation and will not agree to anything that could possible compromise that or be misconstrued.
Next in His story it is time for Isaac to be married. Abraham insists that he is not allowed to marry a local but some one from his/their home land. So he sends his servant to find a suitable mate. The servant logically asks: ‘but what if she won’t come?’ ‘Maybe Isaac should just go back there to live and be married?’ Once again Abraham’s vision is clear and he is mission focused and refuses to even entertain the idea. He knows and keeps moving toward the promise that he will be the father of a great nation and Isaac is part of that plan. Isaac is his descendant through which this will be fulfilled.
Even when it didn’t make sense to him or anyone one around him, he did what God asked him to do. He was uncompromising and mission focused. Twice in chapter 22 at the beginning and near the end when God spoke to him and said ‘Abraham’, Abraham replied ‘Here I Am’. What one man was able to do with God was just a taste of what was to come when God show what He was able to do with one man.
✍🏼Daily Journal Prompt
Have you ever felt like you were on a mission that no one understood? Will you follow through even when it doesn’t make sense? When you don’t want to? What are you willing to sacrifice? Will you trust enough to step out in faith?
📖Tomorrows Reading
Genesis 26-36
Coaching Opportunity
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If you have stuck with me this far, then you are not reading this by accident, I believe God has a plan for you and is calling you forward!😉🤩
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