“And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the young man and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
Genesis 22:3
As we’ve learned before, the midday sun of the Middle East is no joke. So when it came to difficult manual labor or traveling long distances one would desire to rise early to beat the heat (Genesis 18:1). So it was no surprise to see Abraham rise early in the morning to complete that which God had instructed him; the man knew what it would take to make the trek that day, and the labor it would involve. Before the day got too hot, before the interruptions of everyday life got in the way, Abraham was up and heading towards Moriah, which literally translated means “Where the Lord Provides” or “Where the Lord Appears”.
In the same way we have the choice to prepare and get a jump start before the heat of each day. We too can set out for our “Moriah”, meeting with the Lord and receiving the provision as we present our offerings of prayer and praise. All too often we wake up just in time to roll out of bed and run out of the door finding that we’re a leg behind and the day fully works us with distractions and derailments, at best we’re unsettled and unprepared for the journey ahead of us and the tasks that are to come in that day’s events.
We have such a valuable lesson here with Abraham, when we are early to rise we will also be those who are receiving the Provision on Moriah in the hotter moments of the day, we’ll see the appearance of God’s wonderful presence in the moments where God doesn’t give clarity He simply gives instruction and asks us to obey.
Instead of wondering what’s going on, we’ll have the faith to say things like “WE will come back worship”. What a statement of faith on Abraham’s part. He fully knew God was asking Him to not just wound His son…but kill him. But we see that Abraham is so acquainted with the character of the Father that he knew God was going to work it out for good. Abraham was prepared to fully obey God and see Him glorified even with a fatal offering.
The same will be true for you and I, as we are diligent to seek God in the beginning of our day and get freshly acquainted with Him we’ll have ample faith to handle the hard moments.
We’ll Praise instead of Panic
Worship instead of Worry
And Walk away full instead of wanting.
