The Book About God

I don't remember when I first heard the verses. Four years ago? Five? But I remember when I heard it that it spoke volumes to me. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 ESV “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. (5) You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (6) And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. (7) You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. (8) You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. (9) You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and

Eureka Moments...

So often, I am consumed with whys and whens. Why this, why that, why doesn't God help me with this, or when is God going to reveal that? More often than not, it's related to life in general, my career, what I should be doing or not doing, or if I'm on the right path. I've written about why God doesn't just give us a GPS showing us the way to go just like my Garmin does...with a little checkered flag at the end of our journey that says "You will arrive here in 2 hrs 47 minutes, making this left turn, that right turn, and a straightaway path for 10 miles". And then this week, I had a "Eureka Moment". Literally, just like you see in the cartoons - just about knocked me over.

You know the story in Genesis 22, right? Abraham and Isaac had just set out for Moriah, Abraham having been assigned the task of sacrificing his son as a test of his faith. Certainly, the weight of the task ahead of Abraham laid heavy on his heart. Abraham had cut wood for the offering, and he himself carried the fire up the mountain while Isaac carried the wood and his servants looked on. It was verse 7 that caught my eye.

7-8: Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?"

Yes, my son?" Abraham replied.

"The fire and the 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.

Now I have read that passage before, but never has it been revealed to me quite in this way. You see, God couldn't have shown Abraham what His plans were - He couldn't have given Abraham the GPS version of what would occur. Why not, pray tell?