Freedom For Today

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Genesis 22 before reading the devotional below.

I’ve often heard people talk about the symbolism of Abraham being willing to give up his only son, just as God later gave up Jesus. But during this series, I remember just writing about how much Abraham loved his son, Ishmael. Today’s chapter starts off with God specifically calling Isaac Abraham’s “only son.” Why is that? It strikes me that God did not want Abraham to be confused on his meaning. “Take your son, your only (legitimate) son — yes, I mean Isaac…” We know Abraham is prone to adding in his own ideas so God is careful to be clear. His plan was always going to be about Isaac.

Here God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son. In this era, there were a variety of religions and many of them involved child sacrifice. God is using a very dramatic object lesson to show Abraham that he is not like any other god. In an act of obedience, Abraham is about to kill Isaac and God stops him, replacing him with a ram instead. I believe God is making a very clear statement that he will never demand a child sacrifice, and he now knows that Abraham will obey him fully.

Here’s your freedom for today:

God is one of a kind.

The God of the Bible is often misunderstood and mischaracterized by people who haven’t studied the Bible. When you read these stories in context and seek to understand the character of God, you see that already in this very first book of the Bible God is continually revealing himself as a provider. He is trustworthy and good, and the obedience he demands is in the context of care and love. God stayed with Noah through the entire ark and flood situation, he hung in there with Abram’s mistakes, and he provided a sacrifice in today’s story to show that he is trustworthy. God hasn’t changed — he’s still like this in your life today. Do you trust that he has good things for you?

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Genesis 21 before reading the devotional below.

I’m not sure exactly how much time has passed from the last chapter to this one, but it’s a good thing God protected Sarah from sleeping with Abimelech or there might have been confusion about whose baby Isaac actually was… God’s making good on his promises to Abraham and Sarah and they are finally having a son. Eventually this leads to some tension between Sarah and Hagar, and God tells Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away. We see here how much Abraham was upset by the situation and loved Ishmael as a son. Many Muslims believe that the Arab people are descended from Ishmael just as the Jewish people are descended from Isaac.

We have to remember that Abraham was a leader of a whole lot of people, just as others like Abimelech. Their agreements are like treaties between nations, and their alliance has far-reaching effects in history. If you have read the Bible before, you’ll notice the significance of the mention of Philistines at the end of the chapter. They aren’t an enemy of Abraham, but they will become a significant enemy of his descendants later on.

Here’s your freedom for today:

God sees your need and provides.

Remember how Abraham took matters into his own hands when he slept with Hagar to have a son? Hagar was driven away early on, even though she was a victim in the whole thing. God saw that and made her the same promise that he made to Abraham about blessing her with many descendants. This time God himself tells Abraham to send her away again, and she feels forgotten as she and Ishmael are dying of thirst in the desert. God’s there, and he sees their need. He keeps his promises, and he provides a well just when they need it most. The Bible doesn’t tell us any more about what happens to them, and perhaps the Islamic people are the descendants that came out of that union (although this is not considered biblical or historical fact). Either way, God took care of them and kept his promise which once again reveals just how good he is.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Genesis 20 before reading the devotional below.

Sometimes the Bible is hard to read because it doesn’t include every detail, nor does it explain the nuance of every cultural situation. Abraham already tried the “Sarah is my sister” line and it backfired, so why he is using that approach again in this chapter is unclear. From later in the chapter we see that he was actually trying to protect himself, and apparently she is technically his sister (complicated, but true). That description of their relationship communicates a certain availability of Sarah to be approached by other men (but without killing Abraham first). Lest you think God is going to have any part of that evil, he shows up in a dream to make sure Sarah is unharmed.

It’s fascinating here that God clearly defines what might have happened as sin, yet he sees that Abimelech was acting in innocence. He was not trying to violate Sarah. We can sin without meaning to, and that doesn’t make it any less evil. In the end, Abraham and Abimelech make peace and Abraham prays for God’s curse on Abimelech’s people (given as a punishment for what happened to Sarah) to be lifted.

Here’s your freedom for today:

God doesn’t let evil go.

As a counselor, I’ve heard a lot of stories of women being sexually assaulted. It’s evil and if that’s happened to you, I’m so sorry you had to experience that. God cares, and even though we know that bad things can happen in this world, God’s not letting it go. He’s working to rescue us out of this place where evil and destruction are rampant. He’s making a new heaven and a new earth where there is only peace and safety. He’s punishing those who choose to remain on the side of evil. He cared about Sarah and never for a moment forgot who she was or where she was. The same is true for you.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Genesis 19 before reading the devotional below.

Today we’re going to focus on Lot, the nephew of Abraham who gets rescued from destruction because Abraham pleaded with God. Ultimately, I’m on the fence about whether Lot was “righteous,” but God spared him and his family anyway. They’re a pretty dysfunctional bunch.

Lot tries to warn some of the impending doom, but they don’t believe him. He barely has time to rescue his wife and two daughters, and even then Lot hesitates. Lot’s wife looked back at the life she was upset to leave (which revealed her own love of evil), and she turned into a pillar of salt. Lot’s daughters plot an evil scheme as well, ultimately giving birth to two sons whose descendants become significant enemies of the Israelites. Perhaps things would have worked out better if God had not said yes to Abraham’s prayer.

Here’s your freedom for today:

Staying away from evil is freedom.

Sometimes people think God wants to ruin all their fun with all his rules and demands for perfection. Lot and his family could barely pull away from the evil in their city in time to escape destruction. They wanted to keep their “fun.” In the end, evil ALWAYS is destructive and when we hang on to it we are ruined. God gives us freedom in allowing us a way to turn from evil and come to him through faith in Jesus. Don’t be like Lot’s wife and wistfully look back on all God has called you to leave behind — run for the hills without a second thought!

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Genesis 18 before reading the devotional below.

Yesterday we covered the reality that God’s plans are bigger than we can imagine, and we see that here again when Sarah hears about her coming pregnancy at the age of 90. She laughs, God calls her out on that, and then she denies it. It’s always funny when we try to hide things from God. (Spoiler alert: it never works).

The second half of this chapter is a great example of our role in prayer. God tells Abraham he is going to destroy the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Recall that this is the area where Abraham’s nephew, Lot, now lives. Abraham pleads with God and haggles him down to saving the cities if there are only ten good people left there. (Sadly, there aren’t even ten…). But God will spare Lot because of Abraham’s prayer, as we’ll read about tomorrow.

Here’s your freedom for today:

God hears you.

God’s not just listening, he hears you. He sees your heart, he changes his mind when you talk to him. He wants us to give him good reasons to show mercy. When we pray for others, it makes a difference in history. There are many examples of this in the Bible, but this chapter is a fascinating look at how Abraham bargains with God (and it works!). What do you need to wrestle out with God today?