LIVE IT OUT! — Sarah Francis Martin

The passage about Abraham and Isaac is such a chilling and heart wrenching story to me now that I have a son of my own. Oh, I shudder at the thought…

Notice through out Genesis 22 that God calls upon Abraham three times and Abraham answers, “Here am I.” Abraham hears God’s call clearly and is actively available to answer that call. It was especially important for Abraham to answer God in verse 11 when God exempted him from sacrificing Isaac!

Here am I.

Are you clearly hearing God’s call? Are you ready and willing to answer Him?

Check out verse 18:
‘…and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

We too can enjoy all types of blessings by simply paying attention to the call of God and being ready and willing to obey.

LIVE IT OUT application:
Is is hard for you to “hear God’s voice?” He doesn’t always speak to us audibly. Most of the time, the Lord uses the Bible to speak to us. Now is a great time to crack open the Word and dig in to hear what God is saying to you personally. You are always welcome to join me in my journey this year of reading through the Bible…

Today I read through Genesis chapters 16-18. They were familiar parts of the Bible so it took extra concentration to look at the passage with a fresh perspective rather than just skim through the parts that I already know so well.

I focused in on a tiny little verse in Chapter 18. The Lord appeared to Abram and Sarah to let them know that Sarah would indeed bear a child. To her, this was absurd being that she was quite far along in years and she actually laughed at the notion. Get that, she LAUGHED at God! To make things worse, Sarah denied flat out that she laughed and God plainly “called her out.” (see Gen 18:15)

What struck me is that the Lord made a visit to Abram and Sarah, gave them exciting news, and Sarah was found disbelieving God. From our perspective after reading this passage, it might be easy to reproach Sarah and look down on her disbelief, but we all have been there. You can’t deny that…
Have you ever thought about the fact that you can believe in God and not believe God? We can believe that God is the Almighty maker of heaven and earth, yet not believe what He promises or believe that He does what he says he will do. This is a dangerous place to be spiritually. Not believing God leaves us open to Satan’s lies and temptations. Satan just fuels the fire of disbelief.
Would you just hate for Christ to make His return to earth and find you in un-belief? You surly wouldn’t lose your salvation, but I imagine you would have lost some reward in heaven.
So, how do you rectify this un-belief? I really think it starts with an honest conversation with God; being up front with Him about your feelings. Then, ask Him to work on your heart and strengthen your belief in His Almighty Power. This won’t happen overnight. He might work on you for a while by speaking to you through His word or through various trials that test your belief. Let Him do His thing in your heart. Let Him “call you out.” Then, how great it will be to be found BELIEVING GOD when He returns!