The Lord
Will Provide
Today’s
Prayer
Lord, do not rebuke me in your
anger or discipline me in your wrath. Your arrows have pierced me, and your
hand has come down on me. My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too
heavy to bear. Do not forsake me; do not be far from me, my God. Come
quickly to help me, my Lord and my Savior. — Psalm 38:1,2,4,21,22
Some time later God tested
Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
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.”
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. On the third day Abraham looked up
and saw the place in the distance. 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.”
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, 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?”
Abraham answered, “God himself
will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them
went on together.
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.
Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the
angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
“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.”
Abraham looked up and there in a
thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and
sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 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.”
Today’s
Quote
"[Jesus] died not as a
martyr but as the representative of a sinful race. Although God loved him
infinitely, still, as the representatives of a sinful race, in his
displeasure he poured down upon him the vials of his indignation. The death
of Christ was intended to make an impression upon the universe, and all the
circumstances attending it show what a wonderful effect it had. When he was
nailed to the cross the sun refused to look on, and the heavens were
clothed with sackcloth; the whole universe seemed shaking to its
foundations. Heathen philosophers observed it, and said, Either nature is
being dissolved, or the god of nature is dying . The dead could not sleep
in their graves, the earth trembled, and the tombs opened, and those who
had been dead issued forth, and walked into the city. The veil of the
temple was rent in twain. God made a mighty impression upon the entire universe,
when, in order that sinners might be pardoned, he thus made a fearful
demonstration of his hatred against sin." — Charles Finney, 19th
century revival preacher, in his sermon "Christ the Mediator"
Something to
Think About
Was it "fair" or
"just" for Jesus to die for our sins? How does Jesus' death and
resurrection change your relationship to God's law?
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