Obedience // Abraham and Isaac

Our new topic for the next few weeks is obedience. Throughout this topic we will look at people in the bible, if they were obedient to God or not and what the consequences of their actions were.

So to start lets look at what obedience actually means.

First of all obedience is not negative, as you might think it is.
It doesn't mean to be passive, to just sit back, do nothing and let anything happen.
Obedience is a noun, it's a doing word.
It's something we are completely active in, it's one of the biggest life choices every one makes. And it's a choice everyone makes daily.
Most importantly, to be obedient is to love and to trust someone.

On to the first example of obedience we're going to look at in the bible:
Abraham and Isaac.

Found here in Genesis chapter 22, our story starts with a dialogue between Abraham and God. God calls Abraham and asks him to take his son - his only son - and sacrifice him as a burnt offering.
Now, in our bibles before we read this there is a little heading that says

'Abraham tested'

or words to that effect. So before we get to the bit about God wanting Abraham to kill his son we know in the end it's all probably going to be okay. Abraham didn't have this little heading for reassurance, he just had a command - that he followed.

As we read on we see that the next morning Abraham set out to the place God told him to go and after three days of travelling he leaves his servants and takes Isaac up to the place where God wants him to sacrifice his son.

In verse 6 we read that Abraham carried the fire(?!) and the knife while Isaac carried the wood on his back - this is very important.

Now, it's about at this point Isaac starts to get a bit suspicious of his dad. 

He says, 'Father? We have the wood, the fire and the knife for the burnt offering.... but where is the lamb?' 

Abraham answers with one of my favourite quotes 'God will provide a lamb for the offering'. 

Once they got to the top Abraham (somehow) tied up Isaac and laid him on the altar ready to sacrifice him. 

Abraham took out the knife, he got ready to kill his only son for God when suddenly,

'Abraham, Abraham'

A voice from heaven called out. 

'Don't hurt the boy. Now I know you fear God because you have not withheld me from your son, your only son.'

Then Abraham looked up and saw that God provided a lamb for Abraham so that he didn't have to sacrifice his son. 

Abraham was obedient to God, and because Abraham was obedient God helped Abraham and saved Isaac. He even provided a lamb that would be killed in Isaac's place! 

God even further blesses Abraham when later on in the same chapter he says that he will make Abraham's descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore, and that his descendants would be prosperous. 

It's great to see how Abraham's obedience paid off, but could you be this obedient if God asked you to?

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Faith // How do we know God is real?

There's a guy in the Old Testament called Moses.

Now Moses was a pretty cool guy. He was born at a time where Pharaoh had decided there were too many Hebrew men, so wanted to kill the young Hebrew boys. Moses' mother hid him for as long as she could, but when he got too big she put him in a basket and sent him down the Nile (Crazy, right?)
He's then found by none other than Pharaoh's daughter(!!) and was raised as an Egyptian by a Hebrew woman who was his mother! When he's older, Moses decides to renounce being an Egyptian and suffer as the rest of the fellow Israelites do under the Egyptians hands. He gets married and it's all sorts of happy and fantastic.

Then when he's older, God speaks to Moses through a burning bush. He says

'And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people out of Egypt. ' (Exodus 3:9-10)

But Moses really doesn't want to do this. He starts by saying 'Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?' and God says 'I will be with you.' (Exod 3:11-12)

Then Moses says: Who am I supposed to say sent me? and God says: 'I am who I am.' (Exod 3:13-14)

Then Moses says: What if they don't believe me? So God gives him 3 signs to preform if the Israelites didn't believe him. (4:1-9)

Then Moses, who's starting to feel a bit desperate, says: But I've never been a good speaker. And God, who I imagine is a bit fed up by now, says: Moses I made your mouth. I can give you the words to speak. (4:10-11)

And then Moses gives up on excuses, gives up on trying to worm his way out of going to Egypt to set the Israelites free turns to God and says: Lord, please send someone else. At which God looses it and is like: Moses I'm doing the flipping work! I just want you to go to Egypt and throw your stick on the floor!! (4:13-17)

God gave Moses 3 signs AND the words to say to Pharaoh but he still felt like he wasn't enough.

But Moses trusted in God.

Trust is a difficult word. It's hard to trust someone you can't see - harder than trusting someone you can. But trust is a verb, its a doing word. Trusting God is an active decision. You've got to chose to do it. And you have to keep choosing to do it. And that's how we know God is real.

We trust He's there, because we trust in Him.