Issac – Light from the Word

Our Ways Are Not God’s Ways – God’s Thoughts Are Not Our Thoughts

(Isaiah 55: 8- 11)

Abraham was seventy-five years old when God called him to leave his country, relatives and his father’s house to a land He was going to show him. He promised to make a great nation from him and bless him with riches. Seventy-five in those days was still a young age, relatively speaking, for his father had died at the age of 205. He had no children at that time, for his wife was barren. When the Lord appeared to Abraham in a vision a second time, he said to the Lord God, What can You give me, since I am going on childless and he who shall be the owner and heir of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? Look, You have given me no child; and born in my house is my heir. Abraham in his human nature is puzzled, not understanding God’s time line for the fulfillment of His promise. Sixteen years later, God came to Abraham again and this time he made a covenant between Him and Abraham. This covenant was that Abraham shall be the father of many nations; he probably wondered when, since sixteen years had passed since God had called him out of his land to a new land He was going to give him but his wife still was barren.

When God came to Abraham the last time before his wife conceived, he was at the age one hundred and his wife at ninety years old. God’s promise of a son became a matter of laughter to both of them. But God assured them that time that He was going surely to return to them when the season had come round, and behold, Sarah his wife was going to have a son. The reality to them was that they were now old, well advanced in years; it had ceased to be with Sarah as with women. Therefore Sarah laughed to herself, saying, After I have become aged shall I have pleasure and delight, my lord being old? The Lord saw and heard Sarah and said, Is anything too hard or too wonderful for the Lord? At the appointed time, when the season comes around, I will return to you and Sarah shall have borne a son (Gen.17,18:10-14). God’s thoughts are not our thoughts; our ways are not His ways!

The Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for her as He had promised (Gen. 21:1). Abraham was one hundred and Sarah ninety years old; but what is it to the Lord, since He is the Creator of life, and He is not in a frame of human time? He opened the womb of Sarah and what seemed impossible to them and their family, and a matter of laughter, became an expression of God’s power and faithfulness, for there is nothing hard for Him. His thoughts are not our thoughts; our ways are not His ways. He could have called someone younger according to our thoughts and reasoning; or He could have given Abraham a son earlier, but how would they have known the depth of God’s power and wisdom in the fulfilling of His promise to them? In our weakness God’s strength is manifested. Abraham had to go through a few experiences in life before he would see the reality of the promises. First he had to believe in the only true God, since he had come from a family of idol worshippers; second, he had to have faith to take the first step in obedience to God. Faith and obedience were then credited to him, for doing the impossible as far as to obey God in sacrificing his only son as God had asked of him to do. He had waited for that son twenty-five years. Now the Lord wanted to take him back. The depth of his faith went beyond the visible reality; in his faith he obeyed, believing God was going to give him his son back after he had killed him, as we read in Hebrews 11:17-18: By faith Abraham, when he was put to the test, had already brought Isaac for an offering; he who had gladly received all welcomed [God’s] promises was ready to sacrifice his only son, of whom it was said, through Isaac shall your descendant be reckoned, for he reasoned that God was able to raise [him] up even from among the dead. Indeed in the sense that Isaac was figuratively dead, he did receive him back from the dead. “God’s thoughts are not our thoughts; our ways are not God’s ways”!

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The Man Abram (part 2)

ANGELS OF MERCY

When Abram stretched out his hand to slay his son, angels of mercy came before the Lord pleading for him and Isaac, saying, O Lord, You are a merciful and compassionate King over all that You have created in heaven and in earth, and You support them all; give therefore ransom and redemption instead to your servant Isaac, and pity and have compassion upon Abraham and Isaac his son, who are this day performing You commands; have You not seen Isaac the son of Abram Your servant is bound down to the slaughter like an animal? Now, therefore let Your pity be roused for them, O Lord.

At that time the Lord appeared to Abram and called him from heaven saying, Lay not your hand upon your son, for now I know that you fear God in performing this act, not withholding your son from Me. Abram lifted up his eyes and behold a ram God had prepared for the sacrifice. Satan, however, kept the ram from coming to Abram. But Abram took hold of the ram and sacrificed it to the Lord. While Abram was engaged in sacrificing the ram to the Lord, Satan went to see Sarah, his wife in the form of an old man. He stirred up her heart’s emotions by telling her the lie that Abram had merciless killed her son. She lifted up her voice and wept and cried bitterly for her son. She threw herself on the ground and cast dust upon her head, weeping saying, O that I had died in your stead; my joy is turned into mourning over you. But I console myself with you, my son, in its being the word of the Lord, you performed the command of your God. She rose up afterward and went looking for Abram till she came to Hebron, inquiring of all that she saw and no one could help her. Satan came to her again in the form of an old man and said to her, I spoke falsely to you, for Abram did not kill his son; he is not dead. Hearing these words, she became extremely excited to the point of her soul leaving her. She died then without seeing her son alive. When it was all over, Abram returned home and looked for his wife, but he could not find her. After making inquiries about her, he found out she had gone to Hebron; when they got there, they found out that she had died. They wept bitterly over her; Isaac fell upon her face and wept over her, saying, O my mother, my mother, how you left me, and where have you gone? O how, how you have left me! Every one mourned for Sarah for several days a great and heavy mourning. The love of a mother is beyond what one can imagine, but Sarah’s love for her son and vice-versa touches one’s heart deeper than any other human’s love would do. YAHSHUA’S mother suffered greatly the death of her son, as the prophet Simeon warned her saying, Behold, this Child is appointed and destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against; and a sword will pierce through your own soul also – that the secret thoughts and purposes of many hearts may be brought out and disclosed (Luke 2:34-35).

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The Man Abram (part 1)

Abram, a man after God’s heart, and considered God’s friend, offers a rich history unknown to us found in the ancient non-canonical book of Jasher. Jasher is a wonderful book, covering the history from the time of Adam to Joshua. The book of Jasher is referenced more than one time in the Old Testament: Joshua 10:13: And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the nation took vengeance upon their enemies. Is not this written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of the heavens and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day; II Samuel 1: 17-18: David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and Jonathan his son, and he commanded to teach it, the lament of the bow, to the Israelites. Behold, it is written in the Book of Jashar (Hebrew for Jasher).

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