FBT Daily Devotional: Genesis 22

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

So the fun thing about today is we get a great opportunity to dig into something that if you guys, any of you have seen me within the last week, I'm heavily on, which is Abraham. Um, but we're in particular in Genesis 22. So today we're going to take a lens of faith and obedience, um, and the importance of us trusting God in totality. So I mean Genesis 22, it teaches the greatest leaders who chose to trust God even to surrender, um, to surrender what God promised them. And there's a lot of parallels there. So to kind of go back, we're starting from the beginning. If we go right into verse one, matter of fact, let's do this. Holy Spirit, thank you. So in Genesis 22, verse 1, God tested Abraham, and here this test meaning was to prove, to examine Abraham, to refine him and to reveal his character. This was not about temptation, but about revealing what was already inside of him. And so sometimes when we're experiencing things on a day-to-day basis basis, sometimes we maybe pose by asking the question, why? However, God is already interested in what we will do when something happens, what we'll do when the affliction will come, what we'll do when the instruction is given. So great leaders are proven through testing, right? You don't have to use your faith for something that you know you don't have to, you can already see that it's just presently there. But when you have to actually trust God, have confidence, believe, assurance in Him, no matter what, that's when you're actually exercising your faith. And if we're going back just a little bit, we know that faith pleases God. This is the action of faith. Not just Lord, I just believe, Lord, I believe, I trust, and I do. So God um God did not test Abraham to learn something new here, He tested Abraham's faith, which would reveal, uh, which would reveal he matured, which would reveal his trust for God, which would reveal his exact heart's posture and care. So sometimes when we're thinking about leadership, leaders who carry um a promise will experience pressure. You will experience pressure. God lets us know in this life we will experience trials and tribulations. You will have difficult instructions. There will be things that you're asked to do that is challenging. Um, and there will be more moments where obedience is costly, meaning it's not going to feel like it should be happening. Like, man, like our, you know, in a sense, you would want to feel like God, are you sure? But the thing is, testing prepares you to carry greater responsibility. We hear in scripture, for much is given, much is required. You have to get through this test. You have to get through this cycle. If you're going through a cycle, something repeatedly over and over, that means there's something you didn't do. So when we go before God and say, the next piece that I'm going into, here I am, we have to as well say, God, I am fully present and ready to obey. This is not saying yes because it sounds good and it's fluffy or because of what everyone else is saying. It says, Lord, I am available to you, I am attentive to you, I am submitted to you, and I am ready to act. So, kind of flowing more deeper into the scripture, true leadership begins with availability to God. Before Abraham could leave Morace, he had to be fully responsive to God's voice. So sometimes we may be in a space where we can't hear his voice. You know, God speaks to us about being in his presence. There may be times that again, even when there may be silence, God has already given us the instruction of the word that we heard previously. So we're always taught, what did God previously tell you to do? Are you doing that? Continue doing that within your within your best ability, but of course, continuously seeking God, because God is not sitting here keeping his mouth closed and his heart closed and not speaking to you. Um, but there are sometimes just instructions that we need to follow. So there's a pattern that follows in this particular chapter where Abraham is is referencing, um, he's speaking with, well, he's speaking to God, you know, he's kind of dealing with the aspect of having his son Isaac, and he is also speaking here. Um, what is it to an angel? I mean, get that right. Yes. And so he shows this shows leadership requires responsiveness in multiple directions. So it's not always just, hey, think about from you in a natural sense. It's not just you as a leader in your home, or you and a leader in your workplace, or you and a leader in a church. Like God can call you in many spaces and places, still aligned to the same mission, purpose, story. So a leader must be responsive to God, attentive to people. There's no way that you can be a leader without being attentive to people. There's no way around it. God lets us know if we if we obey him, if we love him, that we feed his sheep. So his sheep is his people, and we all are people, but obedience um will include a divine instruction. And divine instruction only comes from God. So if we are continuously reflecting on man, this attitude and this posture of Abraham, there are so many parallels that were here, just kind of lined up into prophecy overall. Can't go into all of them in time. I encourage you all to make sure you spend time reading your word daily. But um, when Abraham goes to um uh Mount Moriah, the command echoes in the phrase in this phrase in Genesis, um Genesis 1 and 2, where it says, Go for yourself, go, go. That means there is a direction, there is an action, and there is something that you need to accomplish. And some may hear it as go into your destiny. And this implies a journey that transforms your identity in a very parallel sense. I say I focus on a scripture at all times that keeps me grounded to hear God's voice and quickly obey. If we're thinking about Romans 12, 1 and 2, is that's for me, compared with Philippians 4.8. I'm like, hey Lord, I'm submitting myself unto you, I'm fully submitting myself unto you. Holy and acceptable. I am choosing not to be conformed by this world, but being transformed by the renewing of my mind. I must stay in your word to transform. But in this go process, in this moving through process, I my identity will transform because I will become more like you. You will do it through me, through me seeking you, through me following your lead and instruction. So leadership always involves surrender of comfort to step into your calling. God did not call you to be comfortable, He did not call you to be comfortable. So sometimes when we hear words like, man, it's not comfortable, you know, this ain't what I feel like doing, you know, um taking the high road of doing what the word tells us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves or be kind to others when they're not being kind to us, those things are not about feelings, it's about obedience. What does the word say? So this is also a reminder to take every thought captive, but to take every thought and action in parallel. The only comparison that we need to compare it to is what the word of God says. What did God tell me to do? So here in Abraham's journey, he begins to leave his homeland and now continues to surrender his greatest promise. He's surrendering with his greatest promise. And most times leaders are often, um, we must release that comfort, that control, that security that I know what's next. Sometimes our idiosyncrasies, because in order to walk with God's larger purpose, it's just required. It's a prerequisite, so to say. So as I'm kind of closing in, and it feels like it's never enough time to completely dig in. Many scholars connect Moriah, um, the Mount Moriah with Yahweh, sees and Yahweh provides because here, um, in the essence of God providing for Abraham is the example or the epitome of Jehovah Jirah, our provider. He sees and provides, sees as in knows and understands now. Let's just say God, the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. But in you operating in the obedience that God has called you, there is always provision. There's always provision. So God often leads leaders into places where provision is revealed, not just guaranteed. Abraham did not see in um this piece of the story, the ram before leaving, of course, in this particular place, not to just miss it. Um, God was going on, um, he was instructed to pretty much uh sacrifice his own son, you know, and in that process of him getting ready to, um, knowing that he was getting ready to, preparing, let's just say, even mentally, physically, emotionally, um, telling his son, his son participating, grabbing the wood, going, you know, he, even with his words of faith, made a clear declaration that he will return. Of course, but Abraham did not see the ram before leaving, even though it was presently available. One big piece that God always deals me on is generally your provision is on the way or in your purpose. So you must walk out what God has told you to do. If you never take the first step, you don't get to see the provision. If Abraham never goes and follows the instruction and actually truly surrenders willingly his son, his son will surrender in himself, the ram itself would not have been something available for him to see. So it's so important when we're thinking about trusting God, again, as we know in faith, sometimes is not the things that we see in front of us, but that we're trusting God for what we can't see, faith, the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. But God already had provision again, waiting at the destination. So just in closing, God will provide. God will provide. And so when we make a decision to do this thing called life, it's not for us, it's it's our submission, saying, God, I surrender my life to you. Have your way, but obedience is required. Faith is required. You consistently seeking God for wisdom, instruction to the next level is required. And I'm so grateful that God gives us wisdom freely, He gives us good and guily ideas, no matter what it is. You have the ultimate strategist, the ultimate navigator, the ultimate God that lets you know that all things are possible with him. So let's make sure we never try to do life without him. I am ready for breakout rooms.