FRIDAY - 7TH OCTOBER, 2022
MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Olusola ADEJUMO
NOTHING TOO PRECIOUS - Discipleship Series 003
Genesis 22:2, KJV
"And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of."
God is not bothered with your loving anything He has given you. His concern is that there'll be nothing you possess that you prefer and love above Him. This may be hard but it is the requirement bearing on us. God said, "take thy son, thine only son, Isaac whom thou loves..." First, there's nothing you have that's really yours. You're just a steward. Someone God has found worthy to have such custodied and administered on earth. Out of everything He has even given us do we give Him. So, we can't boast of actually doing God any favour because from Him and of His fullness have we received grace after grace and blessings after blessings in their varieties and shades (John 1:16). A mark that you've grown is that there's nothing God demands of you to slaughter or let go that you argue about or reason its loss. The refining and purging of our character isn't easy but it's like the refining of gold and its passage through the fire. But at the end, all will testify to the beauty thereof. "Take thy son" was the command. Why his son? Why not his fatted calf? God knows what's Abraham's chief joy of all his possessions. So, it's on that the test will be based and not on what any man would not sacrificially give. Some of us are faithful until God says, "give thy son." We stop being a follower of God and prove unfaithful at this juncture. And if you won't allow your grain of corn to be sown to die in the ground, how will you have a bountiful harvest of same? Abraham gave one and he became the father of all nations.
"Thy only son" God also said. If it's more than one, we may easily give it up but when our fate is tied to only one, we guard it with all our life. Yet, Abraham didn't have two let alone more. Being called to yield up his one is hard but he submitted.
"Isaac whom you love", He says again. You see that? God confirms Isaac is Abraham's life. That's why He's asking for same. Like David says, "I'll not sacrifice to the Lord what will cost me nothing (II Sam.24:24)." God's emphasis on whom to offer here will disheartened a pretentious Christian and force him to be declared for who he is.
God is expecting us that we shall regard ourselves as an unprofitable servant whose life is tied to his master's. No Christian has his own life to live. It is because God is Lord and Administrator of His kingdom. If He wants you leave the comfort of the world where you live to relocate to a noisy overpopulated city, you have no choice but to obey. If He's sending you there, He has need of you there to meet need. If all of us Christians ever listen to God and submit to be administered, in no time, the gospel will reach the whole earth. I found out that God's resources are much more concentrated in human population and even material resources in some places than others while there are villages, hamlets and towns without churches or anyone to knowledge them on Christ. Has God not sent a man there? He did but he wouldn't go because he cannot slaughter his Isaac of city and modern comfort. So, some places seems poorly funded while the others have resources in humans and materials that are being wasted and used selfishly and carelessly by those it is custodied. If you are a Christian, you have a call on you. It's to be submissive and sendable. The day God can't administer you again, you've outgrown the faith. God should be able to say, "arise, take this and that and journey Eastward or Westward." You don't have to know the details before you obey. Prove who's leading you and let trust stabilize you. Abraham was not told the exact mountain at the onset but same was shown him after obeying. Yours is therefore not to enter into bargaining with God. That's rather a clay struggling with the potter and asking, "why form me thus?" Let me ask, "what's in your life that you cherish so much that seems you can't give? Slaughter it today. Show no attachment to it any longer. You might even sow it away. The day God is no longer your highest love but is another which you can't let die, just know that you've trespassed to the worshiping of idol.
PRAYER: Lord, I lay all before you: my fame, accolades, wealth, family, sex, ambition etc.
BIBLE IN A YEAR: Jeremiah 6:16-8:7, Colossians 2:8-23, Psalm 78:1-31, Proverbs 24:26
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